Cycle of the Star
by Keshi-sama
Summary: A highly advanced alien race begins its invasion of Earth in Tokyo. The Azumanga girls are some of the few survivors. What can they do to stop this alien menace? This is outdated now. Keep in mind that I will probably never finish this.
1. An Overheard Conversation

CYCLE OF THE STAR

_Disclaimer:Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

Translations are fictional translations of a fictional language. If any characters (besides the Azumanga Daioh characters) are similar to people in real life or in anything else, it is completely accidental.

_'So this is it, huh?'_ Tomo sat looking down the barrel of the Ravager Cannon which was half the size of her school. The events of the last few days passed before her eyes, leaving an even more shaken girl. The others, gone. _Their_ fault, those alien bastards. Sakaki lay on the ground next to her, Yomi on the other side. None of them had any idea where Yukari and Nyamo could be. The wildcat girl whimpered, knowing that it was the end. She heard a faint ringing and lied back, looking into the massive thing before her, remembering.

CHAPTER 1 An Overheard Conversation

Osaka walked down the hallway to the classroom. She had been thinking about something, but now is not the time to talk of that. "Hey!" she heard someone shout from behind her. Turning, she saw one of her friends charging towards her. "Hiya, Tomo", she said as the other girl got to her. Tomo got to her and asked ,"Have you seen Kagura today?"

"No, but Ah heard from Yomi that she was down at the pool," replied Osaka. "Okay, thanks!" exclaimed Tomo as she turned back down the hall. Shrugging, Osaka returned to her former duties.

Tomo ran, faster than usual, to the pool. Kagura, who was in fact at the pool, saw her charging through the gate. She waved and walked over to her. "Hey, Tomo", said the athlete as her friend got to her.

"Kagura I saw it, it does exist!" said Tomo in between her short breathing. The day before, Kagura swore she saw something fly low over the park, but make not a single noise. Tomo said that if she stayed at the park and watched the sky the entire night, she'd not see a single out-of-the-ordinary thing. So she went to the park, and, as mentioned before, she saw it.

"I told you", said Kagura ,"Did it do anything different?"

"No, it flew right over the park, and didn't make a sound."

"I wonder what it might be..."

It was about this time the bell began to ring, and Tomo and Kagura made their way to Yukari's classroom.

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When it was nearly 3, Tomo began to doze off. Yomi looked over and sighed. She'd probably be stuck waking her up today. Waking Tomo up was never a joyful experience. Last time Yomi woke her up, she ended up with a broken nose. Tomo could be very violent on the trip back to reality sometimes...

Sakaki had her usual spot by the window looking into the clouds above. Chiyo was talking with Naoko about the last test. Osaka was long gone in the land of dreams. Kagura was flipping through a bike magazine she had brought. Yukari had already left, so the class was officially over. Soon after the bell had rung, there was an angry scream and a yelp of pain. All the remaining heads turned. Yomi was on the ground in front of Tomo's desk. Said girl was standing with her fist in front of her, looking very angry.

Tomo looked down at her and became fully awake. She bounced around her desk to help Yomi up. "You know that this happens when you wake me up", she said to the taller girl.

"Well it wasn't like I had much of a choice", replied Yomi.

The wildcat girl smiled and yawned. "Looks like I'm still a _bit_ tired."

"You need to get more sleep," sighed the other girl rubbing her forehead.

Yomi led the sleepy wildcat outside and began the long walk to her house. When she arrived at Tomo's house, she led the wildcat inside. "Mom, Dad, I'm home!" yelled Tomo. Her mother came out of the kitchen carrying a small book.

"Hello Mrs. Takino," said Yomi, bowing.

"Ah, hello Yomi," welcomed Mrs. Takino. Tomo went into the main room to put away her school items. "How was school, Tomo," said Mrs. Takino coming into the room as well.

"The same as any day," replied the teen.

Yomi waved goodbye to the two Takinos ,"Bye, Tomo, see you later." Tomo and her mother said their goodbyes to Yomi as she began to leave. Once out of the house, Yomi sighed. She began the walk home.

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Tomo stared at the ceiling of her bedroom. Turning her head, she saw that the time was 1:00 AM. Groaning, the wildcat turned off her light and went to her bed and went to sleep.

She was awoken a few hours later by a noise coming from her window. Alarmed, Tomo slowly slid out of bed to investigate. As she approached the window, she heard someone speaking in a language she didn't understand. Through the window she could see two figures. One of them turned to look through the glass. It spoke in Japanese.

"He comes, and the Byrten have little to stop him. We, as Drykal, must aid these people. Prepare the_ Lyras Klarl'ti_, we will begin preparations immediately." The other person made a slight bow and turned to leave. The one that spoke looked in for a while longer, then left also. Tomo shook her head thinking it was an illusion and went back to bed.

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Yornkaceyl Eylmey was in thought on the flight back to the hidden base on Earth. '_I hope that Byrtel heard me,' _thought the young prince. His people, the Lyracl'i, had created a powerful empire that spanned several worlds. They had destroyed more than seven alien races, and destroyed two planets. Eylmey's brother, the Harakaceyl Kanyl, was undefeated in battle. He alone had conquered a system. Their father, Lyrarekaceyl Tynuren, was proud of his son's accomplishments. Eylmey, however, had witnessed Kanyl order the slaughter of thousands of citizens for having regretful thoughts at killing other sentient peoples. Eylmey created the Dryka Mirkat in order to spare others the death. Kanyl learned of the Dryka Mirkat, but said nothing. He used his brother's foregoings to find his targets. Eylmey saw the base as they landed. Muryl stood to escort his Yornkaceyl to his quarters.

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Translations: Byrten - Ruling People

Drykal - Saviors

Dryka Mirkat - Savior Knights

Gyremperor - Past Emperor

Byrtel - Ruling Person

Lyracl'i - Destined(plural)

_Lyras Klarl'ti_ - The name of Eylmey's silent transport, Klarl'ti means pure intentioned, Lyras means failure

Yornkaceyl – Lord Prince

Harakaceyl – Emperor Prince

Lyrarekaceyl - Emperor

Eylmey - Final, name form. Natural form - Oylemo

Kanyl - Future, name form. Natural form - Kyr

Tynuren - Brilliant Light, name form. Natural form - Veysh

Muryl - Service, name form. Natural form - Ryk Hyre

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_Keshi-sama: I hope you enjoyed the first part, and you don't have to wait long for the next one. Reviews are welcome._


	2. The Destined

CHAPTER 2 The Destined

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

Tomo walked along side Yomi. As they approached the school, Chihiro and Naoko walked up to them. "Hey guys!" greeted Chihiro happily. "Good morning," said Naoko in a tired voice.

"Yo," yawned Tomo, stretching. Yomi smiled slightly to the other two girls as a greeting. The four of them walked to their homeroom class.

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Tomo, seeking an answer to a question, walked to Yomi's desk. The girl looked up to see her friend standing before her.

"What do you want, Tomo?" she asked. Tomo sat in the free desk in front of Yomi's and answered ,"I wanted to ask you something."

Yomi sighed and asked ,"About what?"

"You know I don't know much about other languages, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what 'Byrten' means?"

Yomi looked at Tomo strangely ,"That doesn't sound like a word that exists."

"I was just wondering 'cause last night, I heard two men talking outside my window. At first, I couldn't understand what they were saying. Then one of them starts talking in Japanese," Tomo stopped to remember what the man had said ," He said 'The Byrten have little to stop him', so I wondered what Byrten are."

All Yomi said was ,"Oh."

Tomo sat down at her desk as Yukari walked back into the classroom.

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Eylmey's color drained from his face as he saw the scanner "He's here," said the Yornkaceyl ,"Nirya, prepare the shields, now!"

"Yes, Yornkaceyl," said the young woman as she sat down at the control panel. Eylmey began talking again. "Everyone, the time is here. We can no longer stall. Kanyl comes for the Byrten. It is our duty as Dryka Mirkat to protect them". "Lan kemerei'pes!" was shouted by everyone in the room.

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Sakaki was gazing out the window once more. She could see little cats playing in the yard in front of the school. When they left, her gaze drifted upwards, and she gasped at what she saw. There was a layer of glow covering the sky. Sakaki could hear as other people saw it. Then there was a loud explosion that shook the entire school. Once it had stopped, a massive hole appeared in the glow, and small silver dots were coming through it.

Osaka pointed out the window and asked,"What're those?" and drew everyone's attention to the dots. As one of them swooped down low, its sleek, silver curves and small symbols covering it could be seen. Suddenly, another, smaller crash rattled through the school.

Yukari went to the door and stood there. From the hallway came a scream and a _buthd_ noise. The class jumped, and Yukari opened the door slightly, and looked out. On the floor on the far end of the hallway was a dead girl, with a clean burn through her chest. Standing over her was a near 2 meter tall man dressed in a black suit that covered his entire body. A small knife hung at his side, and in his hands was a small metallic item. He pressed a button on the side of it and raised it in the air. A loud voice filled the school, first in an unknown language, then English, and finally Japanese. It called, "_LESSER PEOPLE! YOU ARE A DISGRACE IN THE EYES OF THE DESTINED! WE HAVE COME TO CLEANSE THE GALAXY OF YOUR EXISTANCE! ANY RESISTANCE IS USELESS!_"

Everyone took a few seconds to register what had been said, and then began screaming in fear and anger. Osaka looked upwards helplessly," So we're gonna die..."

Chiyo was crying while Sakaki tried to comfort her, but to no avail. Tomo was trying to rally everyone, and failing. They were all too afraid to calm down. Kagura was going on about what she was going to do to the people who threatened them like that. Yomi was trying her best to stay calm, but was obviously shaking. Chihiro had fainted. Naoko seemed to be the only one unaffected.

Everyone stopped as the door shook. Yukari had locked after she had seen the man in the hallway. Yukari moved quietly across the room to the back. She bent down, and pressed down on a tile with all her might. The class stared as it popped in two. She stood up as the door shook again, and motioned for everyone to move as quietly as possible through the hole. The hole was large enough for two people to go through at a time, so there was no problem getting through. Finally the last four people were getting ready to pass through the hole, but the door gave in at last, and two pale skinned human-like men ran into the room.

Yukari had gone in before the men busted in and closed the hole. As the rest of the class closed their eyes, the screams of the dying could be heard above them. Yukari locked the secret door and told the class to move forward.

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Translations: Nirya - Beloved Girl, name form. Natural form – Wass neri'ti

Lan kemerei'pes - We Shall Protect

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_Keshi-sama: Short, but done. The action starts soon, I promise. Reviews are welcome._


	3. Fell from Grace

CHAPTER 3 Fell from Grace

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

The hole they had crawled through led to the cafeteria. A boy looked in and called back up,"All clear," and one by one, the class dropped down into the cafeteria. Chiyo had stopped crying, and had a strange expression on her face.

"We need to make sure that they can't get us in here," said Yukari as she went into a small closet at the side of the room. After she had gone in, Tomo turned to Yomi. "The first language, the guys from last night spoke it," the wildcat said.

Yomi looked at her friend and replied,"Yeah, they were. I heard the word Byrten." At that time, Yukari came back out of the closet holding boards, nails, and hammers. "We have to hurry," she said to the class as she handed out the supplies, "Barricade the doors and windows. We might be able to keep them out."

After she had handed everything out, Yukari began gathering chairs in front of the doors. Soon the entire room was fortified. Outside the room, more shots could be heard, and screams for help and of death.

The remainders of Class 3 were huddled together talking about what was going on. Naoko and Osaka were the only ones who did not join in the conversations. Ohyama had found the key to the kitchen, so they had food and water. Osaka was looking at the ceiling. She had a dark feeling in her heart.

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Kaorin slid under the desk as quickly as she could. Three men walked into the room, each armed. Kaorin waited until they walked past her desk, and sneaked behind them out the door. She began to run as soon as she got out. The men in the room heard her and took off after her, but she was already down the stairs. She had to see if her Sakaki-san was alright.

She ran down the hallway to the other set of stairs, and went up them. When she reached the floor she wanted, she went to Class 3's room. The door was busted in, and there were four dead students on the floor. Kaorin put the hand over her mouth as she saw them. The boy was completely mutilated, his body broken into twelve pieces. One of the girls had no head, another missing her legs and arm with a torn hole where her heart once was, and the last one had her head broken through the window, blood gathering in a pool around her knees.

Kaorin walked in horror to see who the girl at the window was. She stepped towards the body and pulled it out of the window, and nearly screamed when she saw Chihiro's face. She took a few steps back before turning and running from the scene. Before she could make it out, she ran strait into someone. Almost as soon as she hit the floor, she was back up on her feet and moving backwards. The man she had run into was covered in black. He extended his hand to her as he walked forward. Kaorin screamed and scrambled farther away from him.

Her back ran into the wall and she screamed again. The man had reached her by then. Before she had a chance to act, the black clad man had grabbed her face. Kaorin's eyes widened as the mouth of the man's suit disappeared and he lowered his lips to her ears. "Lem Ayratyn ta'el," he said.

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It had been hours since Class 3 had escaped through the hole. The sounds of dying had long since faded away. Chiyo was sleeping on a makeshift bed the students had thrown together for everyone out of tarps in the closet. Everyone was worried about what might have become of their friends in other parts of the school. Sakaki was sitting in the corner by herself, chanting something silently. Kagura had worn herself out ranting and was sitting on the ground, defeated.

Tomo suddenly stood from her place next to Yomi, and walked over to the window to look out the cracks in between the boards. The outside looked terrible too. The ground was ruined, trash and rubble scattered everywhere. _'They got everything,'_ Tomo thought as she turned back inside.

For a while everything was quiet, until a bang came from the other side of the door. All of the people in the cafeteria had their breath catch in their throat. It came again, and someone began to cry quietly. Once again it came before they heard voices come from the other side of the door, fading away. The people let their breathing continue.

Before they could begin their activities again, the door exploded inward. The students scattered trying to dodge the splintered door. Lasers began tearing their way through the smoke. Five students fell before they even knew what was going on. The rest ran towards the kitchen. There was another door in here that they started to take down the barricade. Another laser came through the door and caught Ohyama in the back. He was dead before his body hit the ground.

The remaining students broke through the door into the schools hallway. They then scattered in every direction to get away from the killers. The girls ran left down the hallway. Some lights were flickering on and off. A tearful Chiyo was being carried by Sakaki. They turned another corner towards the exit to the pool.

They had almost reached it when that door shattered as more lasers came through it. Sakaki rolled under them still holding the now screaming Chiyo. Yomi just managed to dodge them. Tomo hit the floor as soon as the door had shattered. Osaka saw the lasers come at her, but was to slow to respond. One cut through her shoulder, and another through the side of her leg. She fell backwards screaming in pain. Kagura grabbed Osaka and fell to the ground.

Two more alien people broke through the remains of the door, and held their guns down at the girls. The woman laughed," Fools, all of you '_Byrten_' are". The laughing was cut short as a foot connected with the back of her head. Raising his weapon, the man turned to face the threat. Before he could start shooting, Kurosawa Minamo grabbed the end of his gun and twisted it out of his hands. Minamo brought her knee up into the man's stomach. The man fell over trying hard to breath.

Kagura stood,"Sensei..." she said. Minamo wiped a drop of sweat from her brow and asked,"Where's everyone else?"

Yomi responded,"We scattered when we got out of the cafeteria," as she got up. Osaka had stopped screaming. Minamo bent down to see what she could do for Osaka.

After looking over her injuries, Minamo pulled a small first aid kit from her pocket. She grabbed some disinfectant, and sprayed the burns.

Osaka jumped when the cold spray hit the burns, but withstood it. After she finished, Minamo put the disinfectant back into the kit and looked up to the others. "We need to get moving," she said as she stood back up with Osaka. Once they were ready, the girls ran through the door and out to the city.

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Translations: None this time.

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_Keshi-sama: My longest chapter yet, he hopes you enjoyed it. Reviews are welcome. _


	4. Remnants

CHAPTER 4 Remnants

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

Yornkaceyl Eylmey ducked behind the stack of boxes as the ground behind him exploded. His brother had finally taken action against the Dryka Mirkat. Four Pyrs-Ureyl teams had been dispatched to eliminate every last Dryka.

Eylmey fired a shot over the top of the boxes, and was rewarded with a scream of agony from one of the dark wearing Pyrsi. As he ducked back down, he saw Nirya going against one of the Pyrsi in close quarters, and losing. Eylmey raised his weapon to shoot the Pyrsi, but the slayer saw Eylmey and threw Nirya in front of him.

Nirya swung another blow at the Pyrsi, but her enemy caught her hand and squeezed. Pyrsi have the strength of several normal people, so her hand snapped in a few seconds. Nirya stepped back holding her hand.

The Pyrsi saw his chance, and brought his yulkasa up across her entire body. Eylmey could only watch as Nirya screamed and fell to the ground, with blood pooling around her.

Eylmey felt rage overcome him. He dropped his weapon and pulled his ytave, Kaesyn'san, from its sheath tied to his back. Charging at the killer of Nirya, Eylmey thrust Kaesyn in front of him. The Pyrsi barely managed to dodge the blade. Eylmey growled as he pulled back.

The Pyrsi followed him, swinging the yulkasa forward with an arc motion. Eylmey stepped his left leg back and followed the motion by stepping forward with his right, avoiding the yulkasa a advancing his ytave.

Kaesyn'san connected with the black-clad slayer. Blood leaked out from beneath his visor as the Pyrsi fell dead. Eylmey pulled Kaesyn'san free of the corpse and cleaned the blood off of it. '_I have claimed vengeance for you, my love' _thought Eylmey as he picked up his fallen fiancé. He began to fall back, firing shots from his cyra as he retreated to the Chamber of the Lost.

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The girls moved a quickly as they could through the destroyed city. Osaka had healed enough to limp beside them. They were heading to some place safer than the school they had left behind.

Sakaki and Kagura had gone ahead to scout out their path for alien patrols. Chiyo was trying to think about what was happening, but couldn't think clearly through her fear. Out here, the dieing was worse than at the school, but was spread out more.

They had the two alien rifles that Minamo had 'relieved' their owners of. After a few minutes, Sakaki and Kagura returned to the group, who were resting in an alleyway.

"There's an office building up ahead, and no aliens were anywhere in sight of it," Kagura reported as they arrived. Minamo looked around to see the group looking to her. "What?" she asked them.

"Its up to you, sensei," Chiyo explained.

"Well, it sounds alright, so I think we should go," Minamo said. The rest of the group agreed, so they began to move towards it.

Once they reached the street, Sakaki looked out from between the buildings. She turned back to the rest of the group and reported, "All clear." The girls moved across the street as quickly as they could, and entered the building.

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Kaorin lay against the wall of Class 3, shaking with pain. After the man had talked to her, he had pulled his knife from his belt and stabbed her hand to the wall.

The wound had stopped bleeding some time ago, but the pain stayed. Her eyes ran dry, for she had cried all of the tears she had, in hate, in fear, in pain, and in sorrow. Chihiro, her best friend, lay dead only a few meters from her.

Kaorin looked to the ceiling. She had given up trying to pull the knife out. Every time she pulled on it, it sank in deeper into the wall.

She was exhausted from yanking on the knife. She closed her eyes and let sleep claim her.

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Kanyl sat in the command room of the _Sylanti Herin'ti_. He was looking at the progress report of the elimination of the Hur-Byrten. A smile rested on his face at the report.

His brother, Eylmey, would soon be dead as well. His personal Pyrs-Ureyl had never failed him before, and they would not fail him this time either. Eylmey was weak with his pity of lesser peoples. That was why Kanyl was to be the Lyrarekaceyl after his father died.

Eylmey could never bring the Lyracl'i to their destiny of absolute rule of this galaxy. Kanyl turned away from the screen and went to the Communications Room to contact his father with news of how 'Eylmey had foolishly fought against the barbaric Hur-Byrten without him and died along with the rest of his force'.

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Yukari and Naoko hid in a small closet. Naoko hadn't spoke a word since they escaped from the aliens that stormed the cafeteria a few hours before.

Every now and then, Yukari would open the door a crack and look to see if there were any alien soldiers in the hallway. Usually, there were one or two aliens walking down it, still searching for survivors.

Yukari looked out into the hallway to see if there were still aliens out there. This time there were none, and she was glad. She was starting to get uncomfortable in there.

Naoko was out of the closet before Yukari could even tell her that it was safe. They sneaked through the hallway, and made it outside.

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Yomi walked as silently as she could up the stairs of the office building. The power was out, so she had trouble finding her way up them. Tomo followed right behind her.

Downstairs, Minamo was having a closer look at Osaka's burns. The one on her leg was small specks of blue around it that you couldn't see unless you paid attention to them. Her shoulder was charred. Minamo looked at the alien weapons. They looked exactly the same.

Minamo held one like she was going to shoot something. The weapon was pretty light-weight and included a place for you to put your hands. An electronic scope was also built into the top. A small moveable pad on the top of the handle held the batteries. Two discharge points came from the end of the weapon, and on one side of the rifle were three buttons. One was pressed down. On the other side were vents for heat release.

Back upstairs, Yomi and Tomo had finally reached the top. They began to search for anything that they could use to call for help. Tomo went a separate direction from Yomi.

She walked quietly down the hallway, and began opening up rooms. She didn't find what she was looking for, but she found a key. Deciding it could be useful, she kept it.

Tomo wandered around for twenty minutes before she came to the last door on this floor. She slid the door open and looked inside. It was completely dark in this room, not a single window. As soon as she took a step inside the room, a disgusting smell bombarded her senses. Tomo covered her nose and stepped back out.

From inside the room she could hear a deep growling. She panicked and began to run back down the hallway and back downstairs. Yomi ran into the hallway from the room she was checking when she saw Tomo run down the hallway screaming. She turned to look down the hallway that Tomo had come from. Turning the corner was a scaled dog-like animal that was twice as large as any dog she had ever seen. Yomi turned and joined Tomo in the screaming.

Kagura sped up the stairs to see what was going on. Tomo and Yomi sped past her, and she almost fell back down the stairs. She looked back up just in time to see the beast standing at the top of the stairs growling at her. "Damn…" was the last word Kagura said before the creature leaped down the stairs at her.

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Translations: Pyrs-Ureyl – Slayer-Guards

Pyrsi – Slayer

Yulkasa – A type of knife used by traditional warriors and elites

Ytave – A type of sword with two curves meeting to form a point at the tip

_Sylanti Herin'ti _– Kanyl's War cruiser, Herin means crystal, Sylanti means prophecy

Hur-Byrten - Lesser People, Unwanted People

Kaesyn'san - Elymey's sword, meaning Guardian

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_Keshi-sama: Long chapter compared to the others. I feel as though this story is moving fast. Don't worry; it is going to be long to make up for the speed. Reviews are welcome._


	5. Dark Rain

CHAPTER 5 Dark Rain

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

Chiyo jumped when the screaming started. Kagura started up the stairs to see what was happening. Osaka had been asleep for 15 minutes, and she didn't wake up now. Minamo went over to look up the stairs. Sakaki was chanting quietly in the corner again.

Suddenly, Tomo and Yomi came running into the lobby, screaming, "RUN!!". Minamo recovered from surprise quickly and looked back up the stairs. She screamed when Kagura flew down to the small platform. There were large claw mark cutting threw her shirt with blood trailing out of it.

As soon as she hit the floor, the massive beast landed on top of her. Kagura began to scream as it tore at her chest with it claws. Minamo's body acted on its own as she charged up the stairs at the beast.

She grabbed a small bar that was lying on the ground and smacked the creature's head with it. The dogzard growled while it knocked Minamo back down the stairs. It turned back to Kagura, who was slowly trying to escape, and opened its large mouth.

There was one last scream as the beast tore Kagura in two. Minamo jumped back to her feet just as the beast killed Kagura. She stood there stunned for a short time until her mind could register what had just happened. Once it did, she charged back up the stairs with the bar in her hand.

The dogzard turned from its new meal to look at Minamo charging back up the stairs. It tensed its legs and leaped down towards her. From behind Minamo came a small, concentrated laser. It burned strait through the dogzard's head. It flew a bit farther before hitting the floor of the lobby.

Everyone in the room was stunned. Minamo turned to see who had fired the laser. Standing at the foot of the stairs was Chiyo, holding one of the alien rifles.

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Kaorin awoke from the sleep that she needed. She felt that something was missing. Looking around, she saw that she was no longer in Class 3, she was in the Gym.

She stood up and got a feel for walking again. When she had finished, something grabbed her from behind. Kaorin jumped and turned around. Standing there was the black armored man. Kaorin screamed and began to run towards the exit.

Suddenly, the man was standing in front of the exit. He pressed a small button on the side of his mask, and began to talk. "You cannot run from me, little girl. I can catch you no matter how fast you run. Your friends, they have escaped, but they will not live long. I have sent my strongest Render Hounds after them. They haven't had that much food in a long time." Kaorin could hear the laugh in his voice with that last sentence.

She began to back away from the man. The man caught her before she could get anywhere and began to laugh. "This time, I won't leave my job unfinished." Kaorin screamed again as he pulled her towards him.

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Chiyo began to shake after the dead body hit the ground. She couldn't believe she had just killed something.

Chiyo dropped the gun and began to cry. The remains of Kagura's body still lay at the top of the stairs. Sakaki stood up and went over to Chiyo to tell her that everything was okay.

Osaka had woken and was staring at the stairs with her eyes glazed over. Tomo had started to cry also. Minamo picked the gun up, and ran upstairs to check to see if there were any more. Yomi was just standing there not doing anything.

Soon, Chiyo and Tomo had finished crying. Minamo came back downstairs and reported that there were no more. Sakaki stood up and walked up the stairs to the top floor.

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Eylmey brought Kaesyn'san through another Pyrsi. He had rejoined the battle as soon as he had put Nirya into her tomb. Another Pyrsi came for him with his yulkasa in front of him.

Eylmey sidestepped the yulkasa and knocked the Pyrsi's arm away from him. He quickly brought Kaesyn'san up as another Pyrsi came at him. The Pyrsi was caught unaware and his yulkasa was jerked out of his hands.

The first Pyrsi came again, and Eylmey spun around him, slashing the Pyrsi across his side. He stumbled forward before he turned again to jab at Eylmey with his yulkasa. Eylmey dodged the weakened Pyrsi's attacks easily and thrust Kaesyn'san through the Pyrsi's heart.

Eylmey pulled Kaesyn'san back from the Pyrsi and turned in time to block a punch from the other Pyrsi. Eylmey ducked under his opponent's arm and jabbed Kaesyn'san into the Pyrsi.

Eylmey pushed the dead body from his ytave. His brother had sent another team of Pyrs-Ureyl while he was giving Nirya her funeral. '_Nirya…..I will never forgive you for her death, Kanyl, no matter what happens,' _was what Eylmey thought as he left the contested parts of the Dryka Mirkat HQ.

He made his way to the airlocks as there was no more he could do. He found an empty escape pod, and entered it.

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Kaorin lay on the floor of the Gym, shaking. That man… the injuries were worse than the wall. When the man had pulled her to him, he had pulled a knife smaller than the one he used to pin her to the wall with out. He bound her with a dark brown rope. Kaorin whimpered in pain as he used the knife to make small cuts across her arm.

Unsatisfied with her response, the dark armored man pulled a small flask out of his suit. Dumping some of the liquid that was inside it, he began to cut further up both her arms and legs. The liquid on the knife made the pain ten times worse, and Kaorin couldn't take it any longer. She began to scream from the burning of the liquid that began to flow through her veins.

The man smiled, and cut open the bottom of her shirt. He then took out a small figure, and pressed against his palm. The bottom of the figure turned red with heat. He held Kaorin still as he lowered the hot part of the figure to her stomach. Kaorin screamed as the figure burnt the shape on the bottom on it onto her. The man held it there for another five minutes before getting off of her.

He cut the rope and gathered it up. "You have been marked. There is no escape for you. I go now to finish you friends' lives in this world," he said as he disappeared into the darkness of the room. It started to rain shortly after.

Kaorin lay on the floor of the Gym, shaking in pain. Gathering her remaining energy, she looked to see what was burnt on her middle. The burn was a letter in runic script, and seemed that the figure used to burn her had been used many times before. She let her head fall back as she used the last of her energy.

She lay there, staring at the ceiling, willing herself to sleep to dull the pain, but it did not come for her.

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Rain pattered against the roof of the building. Sakaki had reached one of the middle floors of the building. Quietly, she walked down the hall. She was trying to be sure that the beast was the only threat in the building. She checked room after room, and found nothing.

She searched every room in the building, ending with the top floor. Safe in belief that there was nothing else, she began to head back downstairs. As she arrived at the top of the staircase, a snapping noise came from behind her. She turned quickly to see what made the noise.

The exit to the ventilation shaft had snapped open. An arm completely covered in black armor appeared through the hole. Sakaki held her breath as a fully black armored man followed the arm to the floor.

The dark armored man stood up to face Sakaki. He pressed the button on the side of his helmet again and said, "You are one of her friends. The small girl."

Sakaki stood staring at him. The man motioned towards the stairs. "I will end your life here, before I go after your friends" he said.

Sakaki moved to block the way, "You will not harm them. I won't allow it."

The man laughed shortly. "This will be interesting," he said through his visor.

They stood there for a few second studying each other. Suddenly, the dark armored man lunged forward at Sakaki. She barely had the time to block his attack. Her foot came up and caught the man's side.

He stepped back and laughed again, "You're good, but not good enough." He jumped forward again. Sakaki prepared to block him again, but he disappeared as soon as he got within her reach. She looked around, trying to find out where he might have gone. _Whompf!_ Sakaki stumbled back a few steps as she was hit out of nowhere.

The man's laugh was all around her. "Too bad for you, Hur-Byrtel. Seems you've never encountered cloaking technology before. Don't feel bad. It's very rare," his voice said as he continued to hit Sakaki.

She tried to predict where his next strikes were going to be, but she never could stop him. She concentrated, and cleared her mind of all thoughts. The man stopped, confused that she showed no more signs of pain. He smiled, thinking she had left herself open, and charged.

Sakaki's arm shot out and grabbed the man by the shoulder. He laughed as he reached up to pull her arm away. Sakaki let go of the man's shoulder, grabbed his moving arm, and pulled him closer to her. While he came to her she prepared her other arm for a punch. The man couldn't stop her from pulling him forward.

Sakaki let her fist go with full power into the man's jaw. He yelled through his visor as he flew back, suddenly materializing.

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Iyrael could feel his jaw pop as the Hur-Byrtel hit him as hard as she could. '_She-she hit me. Hit ME!' _he thought quickly as he flew quite a distance down the hallway. She was the most dangerous opponent he had ever faced. Not only was she strong, she was fast and could find out where he was even when he was cloaked.

This _would _be interesting. Iyrael stood back up. "I believe that it is time to get serious about this," he said with a smile.

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The man had gotten back on his feet. He reactivated his cloaking, and began to move towards Sakaki. She still had her mind completely clear of all thoughts. Her body had taken control, and it was faster than she could make it go.

The dark armored man sent blows from all directions, but Sakaki could feel his presence and could block every one. She threw a punch at the man's side, but he dodged it. The man tried to kick her upper body, but Sakaki grabbed his leg.

She pressed her other elbow against the man's leg, and pushed down while she brought her knee up to meet. Sakaki could feel the man's leg snap into many pieces as they connected. Falling to the ground, he cried in pain. He looked up at Sakaki and laughed painfully, "Too bad for you Hur-Byrtel. The mark has already been given. Your world is doomed!" The man gave another laugh. "You will not kill me, I will not give you the chance!" he said as he drove his knife through his own heart.

Sakaki looked at him in silence as he gave his last breath. She turned and walked to the stairs. As soon as she reached them, she had control of her mind again. She shook in silent horror at what had just happened.

'_That man just died!' _she exclaimed in her own mind. Moving clumsily, she started down the stairs. As she passed the window, she saw that the rain had turned black.

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Translations: Hur-Byrtel – Lesser Person, Unwanted Person

Iyrael – Swift, name form – Natural form – Hylra'ti

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_Keshi-sama: Longer and longer. I apologize to all Kaorin fans for what I did to her, but on the good side, she is now the temporary focus character. Reviews are welcome._


	6. The Kaorin Focus!

CHAPTER 6 Kaorin Focus

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

_Keshi-sama: Celebrate all Kaorin fans, for I have made her the current focus character! Through this chapter, Cycle of the Star will follow Kaorin's story. I wish for you to enjoy! And for those of you who didn't figure it out, Naoko is Rachael._

Kaorin crawled across the floor of the Gym. If she could just get to the Teacher's Room, she could get something to patch herself up with. Still crawling, she made it there. She found some bandage wraps and disinfectant. Kaorin first sprayed the disinfectant on the cuts and burn.

She didn't care about the pain from the spray on the cuts due to the events of the past eight hours, but on the burn, it hurt almost as badly as when it was applied to her body. She held in a scream as she tried to finish covering the burn.

As soon as the pain had died down, Kaorin wrapped up her hand and tried her hand at walking. Upon seeing that she could do it with little trouble, she began to walk to the exit.

The ground outside had no grass left on it, it had all been burned away. A newspaper flew past Kaorin as she began to limp slowly into what was left of the school. She came through the door that led to the first floor's main hallway.

Most of the lights were out, so she had trouble seeing as she limped towards the Teachers' Offices. A large hole was blown in the wall next to the door into the offices.

Kaorin looked through the hole to see if one of the aliens was in there. She went to open the door when she saw that the room was empty. Once inside the room, Kaorin tried to go to the desk farthest away from the hole in the wall.

She found the desk that she had been looking for, and shuddered when she saw it. The desk that was farthest away from the hole belonged to Mr. Kimura. Torn and burnt pictures of her were scattered all over it. Only one picture wasn't hers, the one that he had of his wife. Kaorin gulped and went to sit down at the desk.

She could barely stand the fact that Mr. Kimura had sat here before. Her disgust and dislike of her current position could almost be seen gathering in a cloud around her. Kaorin shakily began to search the desk for a phone of any kind.

After ten minutes had passed she gave up. She couldn't find the phone, but she found another stash of pictures, a few pencils and pens, a crumpled piece of paper, and a pair of her socks. Her disgust increased as she saw her socks in one of Mr. Kimura's drawers. Kaorin put the socks back, not wanting to think about that discovery.

Suddenly, the sound of barking came from the hallway. Kaorin looked just long enough to see two dogzards jump onto the rubble of the hole. One of them raised its head and sniffed the air in the room. As it began to growl Kaorin ducked underneath the desk. '_Those have to be the Render Hounds that the man told me about,' _she thought as she crawled to another desk.

As soon as she got under this desk, one of the Hounds landed on top of it, knocking most of the items on it to the floor. Kaorin sat as still as she could, trying not to make a single noise. She sat like that for a few seconds before the Hound leaped to a different desk.

Kaorin let her breathing resume as she began to turn. She turned around fully and found herself staring into the eyes of the other Hound.

Kaorin screamed and jumped back from under the desk. The Hound barked and jumped at her. She ducked as it flew over her and crashed into the wall.

She began to run as soon as it had passed over her. The other Hound leaped from across the room landing a meter from her. Kaorin ran over the pile of rubble that was lying on the lower part of the broken wall.

When she was completely out of the room, she began to run as fast as possible away from the Hounds, ignoring the pain shooting up her body. Legs pounding against the tiles, Kaorin burst strait through the door to another hallway with stairs in it.

She ran to go up them, but stopped right before she fell in a hole in the stairs that spanned twelve steps. It would be incredibly difficult to make the jump, especially in her condition.

Deciding that she couldn't take the risk, she turned and ran further down the hall. Once she reached the end of the hallway, she turned and went through the door closest to her. The room she came into was Class 5's room.

Kaorin ran to the cabinet and grabbed a meter stick from it. She inspected her new metallic friend. The pain in her legs was now unbearable. She nearly collapsed, but with the force of will alone, she limped to the door to lock it. From further down the hallway she could hear the Hounds howling for her blood.

She limped to the teacher's desk and pushed it with all her might. Even with her injuries, she still managed to get it in front of the door. Still limping, Kaorin walked to the seat to rest.

It wasn't long before she could hear the howling coming from outside the door. She stood up on wobbly legs and prepared to defend herself.

Kaorin watched the door as the Hounds scratched at it, attempting to brake through. It sounded as though more had come to join in the attempts to break into the room.

Pretty soon, she could hear twelve Hounds bashing their hulks against the barricaded door. She could see the hinges begin to give way to the continued assault by the stinking beasts.

Raising the meter stick, Kaorin's body tensed as she prepared to launch her strike against the Hounds. Snapping, the door gave and busted under the Hounds' weight. Kaorin ran at them as fast as she could with the pain of her legs.

The Hound that led the pack jumped towards the meter stick wielding girl. Kaorin swung the stick strait at the to-be position of the leader's head. The beast yelped and flew a short distance.

Kaorin turned as the rest of the pack came through the door. Growling, they came for her. She swung, to no avail, and screamed as the lead Hound knocked her to the floor. Small drops of its saliva fell onto her face. The Hound pulled its head up and opened its mouth. Kaorin shook as it prepared to devour her…

_Bang!_ The gunshot tore through the mind, the very soul of Kaorin. The owner of the weapon would be her savior. Three more shots rang out and four Hounds lay dead, including the one on top of Kaorin.

The remaining beasts ran in fear of the wielder of the deadly weapon. Kaorin sat up to get a look at her savior. "Thank yo-," she stopped in mid-sentence as she saw who had saved her. "K-Kimura?!"

Kimura stood before Kaorin wielding a handgun. His mouth hang open, but he had a serious look on his face. "Kaorin, we have to be quick," he said still with a serious look.

"Quick? W-what?" Kaorin stuttered out. "Hmmmm..." Kimura responded his serious look beginning to fade.

"W-what?" Kaorin was beginning to become a bit nervous. Kimura dropped the gun and raised his hands above his head. "Hurry, Kaorin! We might be the last humans left!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

She knew what he wanted as screamed back at him, "No way we're the last humans, and there's no way in hell that I'd do that for you!" Kimura began to cry, "WAAAAAAHHHHHH, Kaorin hates me, WWWWAAAAHHHH!"

Kaorin stared at the crying Kimura. Sighing, she turned to leave. Kimura instantly stopped crying and exclaimed loudly, "Don't leave me!" and started grabbing for Kaorin. The short girl had a hard time getting away from the teacher.

She grabbed the handgun that Kimura used to kill the Hounds as she ran out the door. She ran and ran until she had escaped the school and her pursuer. Panting, Kaorin looked to the school one last time before she limped away.

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_Keshi-sama: Yay for focus! I hope you enjoyed the Kaorin focus, because it's over! Expect to see extreme scene jumping again. Reviews are welcome_


	7. Ruins of Tokyo

CHAPTER 7 Ruins of Tokyo

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

Yukari and Naoko moved slowly through the small piles of rubble. It had been hours since they left the school, and they needed to rest. To make matters worse, the rain had caught up again.

Yukari sighed as they pushed their way through another pile of wreckage. Suddenly, Naoko stopped moving. "Get down," she said as she sank into a pile of rubble. Yukari trusted the girl and hid underneath a pile also.

After a few minutes, a shadow stretched out across their hiding spots. Yukari held her breath, waiting for the shadow to leave. It left after a few seconds, and Yukari could breathe again. She and Naoko stood up out of their piles.

They began to move again as the rain cleaned the dust from their skin.

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Eylmey shook wildly as his life pod slammed into the solid ground of Earth. He popped the door open and stepped out.

He felt his anger with his brother grow as he saw the ruined landscape that lay in front of him. Kanyl had taken to burning the natural environment of this world. Eylmey began to move towards the city that he saw was not far away from his current position.

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Sakaki stumbled down the last step to the lobby of the office building. Her left eye had trouble working, as did one of her lungs. Minamo rushed over to her when she saw the shape she was in.

Osaka had gone back to sleep, and Tomo had joined her. Yomi was standing to help with Sakaki's injuries. Chiyo was curled up in a chair with small drying spots under her face.

"What happened to you?" questioned Minamo, concerned. "There was another one upstairs… Gone now," Sakaki said with a small line of blood tracing its way down her chin as Minamo led her to the so dubbed 'Healing Spot'.

Minamo checked over the damage and told Yomi what she needed. The teenager went to get it from the pile of supplies. When Yomi returned with everything, Minamo turned and began to patch Sakaki up.

Osaka woke a few minutes after and stood. She walked into one of the rooms on the ground floor. After a short time, she walked back out holding a cell phone.

All of the still awake people stared at the one thing that could save them. "O-Osaka, where did you find that?" asked a staring Minamo.

"Ah found it in a box in a closet," Osaka replied sleepily. She walked over to hand it to Minamo. Right before Osaka could hand off the cell phone, a small laser shot through it, rendering it useless.

Minamo looked at the sparking cell phone. "Tell me that didn't just happen."

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Kimura ran out of the school, trying to find his Kaorin. He ran around the school calling her name. Once he found out that she was no longer at the school, Kimura took off towards the city calling for her.

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Minamo turned to see who or what had just blasted their last hope. As she saw who had done it, her fear grew. A small team of aliens were holding a restrained Tomo and a sleeping Chiyo.

One of them spat on the ground and said in a deep voice, "Get up." The group assumed that he was the leader. Two other soldiers came up behind the girls and pushed them out the door with the tips of their rifles.

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The sun was starting to rise. Yukari raised her head above the bottom of the window to see if there was anybody outside. She regretted having done so when a passing patrolman saw her.

Yukari scrambled towards the back of the building with Naoko. She heard the front door slam open and the alien rush into the building. Naoko stood and went to the front room. Yukari stared as the teenager willingly went into a room with one of these aliens.

Soon screams could be heard, and Yukari closed her eyes in remembrance. The door began to open, and in stepped Naoko, blood splattered against her body. Yukari looked out the door behind Naoko. The alien was laying in the middle of the floor, torn to pieces, his blood covering the walls.

"What the hell?" Yukari asked the air in surprise.

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Eylmey passed under a gate made by one building broken in two and leaning on another. The city was in ruins. Nothing that Eylmey saw was left untouched by Kanyl.

He pulled out a small scanner device and activated it. It showed eleven small dots moving slowly across the screen. Two of them were double-stacked with other dots. Seven of them, including the two double-stacked, had symbols of the Kynar'i traced on them. The other four had no markings.

Eylmey figured that the four unmarked dots were Byrten being taken as captives. He stuffed the scanner back into his pack and started in the direction that it had shown him.

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Naoko walked into the front room again. Yukari scrambled away from her in fright. "What the hell are you!?" she screamed at the teenager. The girl looked at the cowering woman and said, "Kyshen 729, failed physical and psychic experiment. I was taken a few months ago by these aliens. They call themselves the Lyracl'i. I was put on a time accelerated planet to give me more time to develop my abilities."

She stopped for a moment before going on. "I was placed back on Earth after they had finished with me. They marked me as failed because I could not be controlled like the others." Yukari interrupted her, "You mean there's more like you?"

"Not of our race, but yes, with my abilities to a small extent. Kanyl terminated all future experiments. They feared that the Kyshen experiments had become too dangerous to their people." Naoko stopped, and went to the window. "They know me, and they fear me. It would be dangerous to you too if you continue to travel with me. They will stop at nothing to kill me if this army serves who that soldier was thinking of."

Yukari sat there for a while longer before standing to leave. As she passed Naoko, the girl said through her mind, '_No need to worry about me. I can protect myself against them'_. Yukari sped down the street after the mind-to-mind message.

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Translations: Kyshen – Shadow Warrior

Kynar'i - Soldiers

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_Keshi-sama: Yay! Chapter 10 finished! Thanks to Weener1 for his help. Reviews are welcome._


	8. Intermission Character List

_Keshi-sama: I have put together a list of all the named characters of CotS. They will be named in order of appearance._

_Takino Tomo – Female – Age 16 – Tomo is remembering the first 13 chapters of the story, though it is not told with POV. Many of the parts, though she was not present, have been added to tell more of the story. Her current accomplishments are running, screaming, and thinking._

_Mizuhara Koyomi (Yomi) – Female – Age 16 – Yomi has been calmer about the current events than most of her friends. She does not take part in many major parts of the story, and appears rarely, as do Tomo (as of Dark Rain), and Chiyo._

_Sakaki Atsuko – Female – Age 16 – Sakaki is one of the more quiet characters in the story. She was the one who killed Iyrael, the Pyrsi who had tortured Kaorin during the first five chapters._

_Tanazaki Yukari – Female – Age 28 – Yukari became very serious about everything after the Lyracl began their invasion. She harbors an obvious fear of Naoko due to her abilities._

_Kurosawa Minamo (Nyamo) – Female – Age 28 – Minamo has been acting as the doctor for the girls since they left the school. She lost control of her anger when Kagura was attacked by a Render Hound, and tried to kill it with a small bar._

_Kasuga Ayumu (Osaka) – Female – Age 16 – Osaka has said very little throughout Cycle of the Star, but is always there. In Fell from Grace, Osaka was shot once in the shoulder, and once in the leg by two Lyracl soldiers while trying to escape the school. It was mentioned earlier in the chapter that she had a dark feeling, but it is unknown of what._

_Kagura Mei – Female – Age 16 – Kagura was the first of the cast to have seen signs of the Lyracls' existence, though she had seen the Klarl Lyras. In Dark Rain, Kagura was killed by one of Iyrael's Render Hounds._

_Mihama Chiyo – Female – Age 12 – Being the youngest, Chiyo is more emotionally affected by the Lyracl invasion than the others. Chiyo saved Minamo from the Render Hound that killed Kagura by shooting it with one of the alien rifles._

_Warada Naoko – Female – Age 16 – Naoko has shown few emotions during the time she has appeared. She says that the Lyracl had taken her away from Earth months before to experiment on her. Her physical abilities have increased and she has gained psychic powers as well._

_Mrs. Takino – Female – Age 36 – Nothing is known much about her._

_Eylmey Synrlastivaas – Male – Age 60 – Eylmey is the leader of the Dryka Mirkat, a group dedicated to the defense of other sentient peoples. The Lyracl age three times slower than Humans, so Eylmey is only 20 in human age._

_Kanyl Synrlastivaas – Male – Age 64 – Kanyl has appeared only once in the story, but his influence is everywhere. His soldiers have reduced Tokyo to ruins and killed most of the populace._

_Tynuren Synrlastivaas – Male – Age 127 – Nothing much is known about him._

_Muryl Vesihen – Male – Age 180 – Muryl is Eylmey's servant and was mentioned once at the end of An Overheard Conversation._

_Inoe Chihiro – Female – Age 16 – Chihiro was seen with Naoko in The Destined. She was killed by Lyracl soldiers who found her and three other students trying to get through Yukari's secret tunnel._

_Nirya Veritativaas – Female – Age 59 – Nirya is one of the members of the Dryka Mirkat. It is said in Remnants that she was the fiancée of Eylmey. She died in combat with a Pyrsi._

_Iyrael Kastyr – Male – Age 78 – Iyrael was one of the Pyrs-Ureyl. He tortured Kaorin throughout the first five chapters. He burned a mark to her for which his reasons are unknown. The Render Hound that killed Kagura was one of his. In Dark Rain, Iyrael told Sakaki that the mark has been given, and that their world was doomed. He committed suicide immediately afterward._

_Aida Kaori (Kaorin) – Female – Age 16 – Kaorin has had nothing but bad things happen to her since the Lyracl began to attack. She's been cut, poisoned, stabbed, burned, and kissed by the Pyrsi named Iyrael. A Render Hound came close to killing her in the Kaorin Focus, but Kimura shot it and four others._

_Ohyama Maasaki – Male – Age 16 – Ohyama was seen only at the time of his death. He was killed trying to escape from the Lyracl soldiers in Cafeteria in Fell from Grace._

_Kimura Hiraku – Male – Age 32 – Kimura has made little appearance in the story, but did save Kaorin from Render Hounds in the Kaorin Focus, and reverted back to his old ways soon after._


	9. Syralri Kurous

CHAPTER 8 _Syralri Kurous_

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

_Keshi-sama: I have finally begun his next chapter! Let the story continue!_

Eylmey hid behind a turned over car. The captive group was coming past. He looked over the top quickly and ducked back down. There were six Byrten and the seven soldiers he had seen on his scanner.

He brought his multi-laser rifle up to change the setting. Pressing the third button, he turned to the side of the car. He watched as the group got closer.

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Sakaki stumbled as one of the aliens pushed her forward with their gun again. Chiyo had woken up and the aliens had bound her too. Osaka was now being carried by one of the patrolmen. She had fallen down several times, and they were tired of having to pull her back up. Minamo was walking quietly with a gun jammed into her back. Yomi was doing the same thing.

Sakaki began to get back into pace again. Suddenly, a small teal light appeared on her forehead. She ducked quickly as a thin laser shot strait through the place where her head was a second ago.

The patrolman that was guarding her fell to the ground in a slump as the rest of the group drew their weapons and scanned the surrounding ruins. Another laser shot from nowhere and another alien fell screaming.

The alien leader yelled to the other patrolmen in their own language. They began to scour the ruins for the one that was killing them all. Sakaki heard a yell and looked to see one of the patrolmen struggling against another alien wearing a cloak.

The new alien pulled a sword from its sheath on his back and sliced strait through the patrolman. Every other alien rushed over and began to fire at the newcomer.

He dodged every one of the lasers and charged the nearest alien. Cutting through that one, he charged strait through to the leader of the group. The leader pulled his sword out and parried the strike.

Before the new alien could attack again, he had every gun jammed against him. The humans finally recovered from their shock and began to flee.

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Eylmey put his hands up as the soldiers pressed their rifles to him. The leader of the patrol came up to him and laughed, "The young prince shows his face."

Eylmey looked at him and said, "Kill me, Jaryl. I know that it is your objective." Jaryl laughed again, "Your brother put up a reward for whoever brings you in. He wants to see you before you die."

The soldiers bound Eylmey's hands behind his back and began to lead him to the captured Byrten. Jaryl looked at where the captives used to be. "Damn it! Hasyr, Vant, find them, now!"

Hasyr and Vant saluted him and took off in separate directions. Jaryl turned back to the prince. "You will come with me, prince," he said as a soldier began to push Eylmey forward.

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Sakaki, Tomo, Yomi, Chiyo, and Minamo, who was carrying Osaka, ran through the streets of Tokyo. They had been running for at least thirty minutes.

Sakaki had healed from her fight with the alien some, and was able to move with little trouble. Tomo ran next to her. Yomi was next to Minamo, in case of an emergency. Little Chiyo struggled to keep up with the rest of the group.

They ran past a pile of corpses, and Chiyo began to shiver. The invaders had taken to showing off their kills. There were bodies hanging from the tops of buildings.

Tomo held in a sob as she saw her parents hanging from one of them. Yomi tried not to pay attention to the death around her.

They passed another pile of corpses when two of the patrolmen who had captured them came from an alleyway in front of them. The girls scattered and ran from them.

The aliens split up and went after three girls each. Sakaki grabbed up a large alien weapon and turned on the alien chasing her, Tomo, and Chiyo. The patrolman rolled out of her sight and pulled out a weapon of his own.

Tomo and Chiyo continued to run as Sakaki prepared to fight against the alien.

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Yomi ducked as a shot was fired at her head. Minamo, carrying the unconscious Osaka, ran ahead of her to get to the building ahead.

Yomi began to run faster as her sleeve was burnt by another laser from the alien's weapon. She stumbled over an exposed pipe and the patrolman took advantage of it.

He grabbed her as she tried to get back up. Yomi screamed as he put electric binds on her. Every time she tired to move, her body was shocked with half the power of a lightning bolt.

The alien left her there with the binds and went after Minamo.

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Kaorin walked quietly through a ruined house, looking for food. It had been a day since she had last seen any trace of food, and she needed something to help replenish her energy.

She had found a bottle of painkillers in another house that she had searched. She had been taking one or two every hour to keep the pain from the poison under control.

Quietly, Kaorin shoved a miscellaneous piece of ruin out of her way as she made her way into the basement of the house.

Suddenly, she heard a bang from upstairs. She turned towards the door quickly. Still watching the door, she stepped slowly to the nearby shadows. She could not see the door from here

Kaorin watched as a shadow stretched down the stairs. Holding her breath, she watched it move further down the stairs

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Hasyr poked his head around the corner of the wall to see one of the Hur'Byrten standing there with a Devastator. He ducked his head behind the wall again and thought, '_By Kyrcaceyl, she has a Devastator! Hopefully, she doesn't know how to use it,' _as he ran across the street. His hopes were shattered as a lightning-like laser struck the ground behind him.

Stumbling from the shock of the hit, he fell to the ground. He looked up to the Hur'Byrten who looked just a surprised as he did. He began to scramble away from her as she recovered from her surprise and aimed the Devastator at him.

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Sakaki surprise lasted a short time before she took aim once more. The alien looked to be afraid of her with this weapon. She pressed the small button under her thumb when her target stopped moving behind a turned-over car.

A massive bolt of energy burst from the barrel of the cannon thing in her hands to completely destroy the car. The patrolman yelled in fright as he was thrown seven meters from the blast.

Sakaki recovered from the after-shot shock and took aim once more. Before she could fire the final shot, however, something hard hit her head and she fell to the ground. As she began to pass out, she could hear two voices speaking in the aliens' language.

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Minamo ran as fast as she could to the mall up ahead. She had to make sure that Osaka would be alright. It would be unbearable if another one of her students were to die.

She could hear the alien chasing her. Passing through the door into the mall, she began to look for a hiding place. Before she could find one that would be good, the alien blew the door to pieces with his gun.

He entered the large shopping center with one of the military movie room checks. Minamo fell behind one of the counters of a shop. The alien crept pass her hiding place with another military movie style, the crouch-walk.

When she could no longer hear his footsteps, Minamo looked above the counter. She could not see him, so she left the store and headed for the exit. Suddenly, a large shadow appeared outside the door.

Minamo jumped through a broken window near the door, and hid behind a large block figure in the store. She listened as the figure stepped into the mall. Osaka chose this time to moan in her sleep.

Minamo clamped her hand over the teenager's mouth and looked worriedly to the door. There was nothing there, and she could hear footsteps further down the hallway. Sighing with relief, she turned back behind the giant model toy.

"No hiding from me, pathetic creature," said a large tiger-like creature that stood on two legs with a more cat-like face. It wore a dark cloth outfit the covered most of its arms, legs, and its entire torso. A small metal rod came up from the back of the suit.

Minamo screamed as she saw it standing in front of her. Osaka began to groan again and move more. The alien pulled its lips up as its race's excuse for a smile and said, "This one's mind is interesting, I will explore more once we arrive on the ship," as it grabbed Minamo's arms and yanked her to her feet.

The patrolman arrived after the tiger-alien forced her into the main hall. "You got her, Kar-kazan. Not bad for a prototype," he said as he came up to the tiger. "She let her mind lay open to me, and the one that sleeps also thinks to freely," replied Kar-kazan.

"We need to hurry and get them to the ship. The Emperor Prince is expecting plenty of sacrifices at the release," said the patrolman as he led Kar-kazan out the rotating door.

Minamo tried to close her mind by thinking of a brick wall, but the psychic tiger-alien pushed into her mind. '_You have spent to long with an open mind. You cannot close it from me'_. Minamo held her head as the thought pierced through her head. She could do nothing as the two aliens led her away.

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Tomo held Chiyo's hand as they ran through a crumbling building. They had given up waiting on Sakaki, though Chiyo did so reluctantly.

A small pillar finally gave way to the weight of the ceiling as it began to crash down on them. Tomo grabbed Chiyo in her arms and rolled away from the collapsing part of the building. They just managed to escape their deaths as they rolled out of the now pile of rubble that once was a building.

Tomo let Chiyo stand again as she stood up herself. She looked up to the sky to see the clouds gathered for rain. It began to fall soon after. Tomo closed her eyes and let the rain wet her face. She began to cry for her parents, and for Kagura. Silent sobs shook her as the rain disguised her tears. She would not let anyone see her crying.

When she finally calmed, she smiled at Chiyo and said, "Nothing better than rain to wash away your cares."

Chiyo said nothing and walked over to shelter from the rain that was growing steadily into a downpour. Tomo lifted her face to feel the rain one more time before following Chiyo. The girls both sat under a door lying on a large slab of concrete.

Tomo sat and forced her feelings down once again. She had finally subdued them when Chiyo began to cry. Tomo turned to her and asked, "What's wrong?"

Chiyo looked up at her before looking back at the ground and shaking her head. Tomo shrugged and said, "Whatever it is, it's not gonna get better by keeping it all locked up inside." She knew that from experience, and she still regretted keeping them forced into a corner in her mind.

Chiyo just shook her head again. Tomo sighed, "If you really don't want to talk about it, I guess I can't force you."

They sat there for a while longer, and Chiyo's crying began to calm. Soon, Tomo was supporting a sleeping eleven-year-old. She looked down at her and smiled one of those rare, true, smiles.

The moment was shattered by a laser shot flying right by Tomo's head. Chiyo woke up from the noise of the shattering door and Tomo grabbed her and protected her from the shower of splinters.

Chiyo looked up at Tomo and Tomo smiled down at her. A small trail of blood was beginning to find its way out of her mouth. A hissing laugh could soon be heard. Chiyo turned her head quickly to see what had laughed. Standing next to the pile of wreckage was a large lizard man. He wore torn pants made out of leather like fabric. His nose had a small bone sticking from the top of it. He stood nearly two meters tall and looked twice as strong as any human.

His laugh sounded like a snake hissing through a sound muffler. Tomo rolled off of Chiyo as the creature spoke. "To easy," he said with another inhuman laugh. He walked over to them and pulled out a pair of electric binds.

He put one on Chiyo and Tomo, threw Tomo over his shoulder, and grabbed Chiyo under his arms. "The Hakt named Kanyl said he would pay Takrsat many shulks for pink-skinned Hakts," Takrsat said as he carried them away.

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Yomi looked around at the intricate designs of alien creation as the leader of the patrol that had captured them led her through the ship. "Hur'Byrten, you all 'r just so barbaric." He spat at Yomi's feet after he finished speaking.

He stopped at a large door with a runic symbol in a circle on the door. He pressed a small plate on the wall and the door opened. Following the man as he stepped in, Yomi began to examine her current surroundings.

Energy gates stood blocking entrance or exit of the cells the guard. Some cells held Humans, and others held aliens of the same race as the one leading her through the prison block. Most of the cells, however, had many different aliens that she had never seen before.

The patrol leader led her to an empty cell, pressed a small plate next to it. Yomi watched as the energy gate powered down. The alien pushed her into the cell and pressed the plate again.

Yomi's energy binds dissipated as soon as the gate came back up. Feeling soon returned to her hands, and she looked out through the gate. She saw the alien who had first saved them in the cell across from hers. He noticed her and sighed.

Yomi turned her attention away from him as the door to the room opened again. A tiger-like alien stepped through carrying Osaka with Minamo in energy binds. He put them in nearby cells.

Minamo looked through the energy gate to Yomi's cell. "Where's everyone else?" she asked. Yomi shook her head, "I don't know."

After she said that, the door to the room opened once more. A lizard-alien and one of the patrolmen came in. The lizard man carried Tomo over his shoulder and Chiyo under his arm. The patrolman had Sakaki, unconscious, on a hovering bed.

Yomi looked back at Minamo and said, "There they are." Tomo and Chiyo were put in a cell next to Yomi, and Sakaki was taken to one near the back of the room. Tomo sat and comforted a crying Chiyo. Yomi saw the tiger-alien come back into the room.

He pressed the plate to open Minamo and Osaka's cell. Grabbing Osaka, he said, "I have been given permission from Emperor Prince Kanyl to further explore her mind." He left the cell, closed it again, and left the room.

The cloak-wearing alien looked at her, "It is almost time, prepare yourself." Yomi just stared at him. The alien pulled out a small object. He pressed in the top and set it on the floor of his cell.

The part that he pressed began to flash short lights. He leaned against the wall and looked at it. Yomi still stared at him. Suddenly, the object radiated a bright blue light, and all of the energy gates powered down.

All of the captives began to charge to the exit. Alarms began to go off when they got to the door. Hundreds of different people ran through the door into the hallway. Yomi stepped slowly out of her cell. Tomo and Chiyo were already out of theirs.

Minamo ran to the cell that Sakaki was in as soon as she got out of hers. The alien who had disabled the gates stepped up to them. He gestured for them to follow him when Minamo returned with a now awake Sakaki.

Figuring they had no better idea, the girls followed him. They left the holding room to see another lizard man losing a fight against three small rat-like aliens. As they ran down the hallway, they saw an insect alien pull its scythe-like hand from the corpse of an alien of the same race as the patrolmen.

Soon, after they had ran through many other fights, they ran into a large corridor with many transparent tubes on the walls. The alien held up his hand and said, "We should rest here." Minamo went over to one of the tubes. Tomo walked over to the alien who had his eyes closed and was lent up against the wall, yet again.

As she approached him, the alien opened his eyes and looked at her. She stepped slightly closer and asked, "Who are you?" The alien lowered his head and replied, "Eylmey Synrlasti, former Lord Prince of the Lyracl."

"If you're one of them, why did you help us?" Eylmey sighed and looked back up, and he explained the story behind the Dryka Mirkat. Tomo stood there after he was done. Minamo walked up to him also. Shaking, she said, "What else has your brother done?"

Eylmey looked to the ceiling, and said, "He used to take specific individuals from races he defeated. He still takes several corpses of people his soldiers felled during the invasion. I do not know why he does this, however."

Minamo pointed back to the tube she had been at earlier and said, "There are people who I saw die in those." Eylmey stood straight and walked over to it. Looking in he said, "Her body is regenerating, so she is going to be whole again. Why would Kanyl want that?" After he said that, everyone came over to look.

Their reactions were all different, but they were all about the same thing. Inside of the tube, was Kagura.

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Translations: Syralri Kurous – A massive Lyracl planetary invasion vessel. Syralri means hopeful, Kurous means stream

Jaryl – Wonder, name form. Natural form – Nyran

Hasyr – Forever loved, name form. Natural form – Lyrsan Neri

Vant – Watcher, name form. Natural form – Rylsay

Kyrcaceyl – First Emperor of the Lyracl

Kar-kazan – Man who hunts

Hakt – Little One/ Hakts –Little Ones

Takrsat – Slither through the grass

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_Keshi-sama: Updated, finally! I took the vaas from Eylmey's name because vaas indicates close affiliation with the Imperial Family, and Eylmey has disowned them. Reviews are welcome._


	10. Trace

_CHAPTER 9 Trace_

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

The girls walked from tube to tube, looking in to see who could be floating in the pale green liquid. They found Chihiro in one near the door, along with many other people.

Eylmey stood against the wall, allowing them to look over these no-longer dead people. He still could not imagine why Kanyl would bring the dead of a people he despised back into the world of the living.

Suddenly, the door next to them eased into four pieces, and two black-clad warriors ran through the opening. Eylmey drew Kaesyn and blocked a knife that flew for his head. Sakaki brought up her arm to deflect a punch from the other one. Minamo gathered everyone else away from the door, and went to join the fight.

Sakaki grabbed her opponent's foot and spun him in the air. The alien super soldier landed on his feet and knocked Sakaki's out from under her. He had no time to react as Minamo brought her foot down on his head. The man fell forward from the heavy blow, unconscious.

Eylmey jabbed Kaesyn at an opening that he found on the other Pyrsi, but he was too slow, and the armored foe moved away from the tip of the blade. He returned quickly with a knife in hand. The prince brought Kaesyn up in a fighting stance before charging at the Pyrsi once more. Eylmey brought Kaesyn in a horizontal cut. The Pyrsi stopped it with his knife, but was knock off balance as Eylmey brought his foot to the side of his head. He slashed down as the Pyrsi began to stand straight again.

The dead body hit the floor with an audible thump. Minamo rushed back over to the rest of the girls after helping Sakaki back up. Eylmey motioned for them to follow as he walked carefully out the open door, sword still drawn.

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Kaorin slipped further back into the shadows as the figure came further down the steps. As it reached the bottom of the stairs, it reached a hand up to its head. Taking a step further, Kaorin began to shiver as the dreaded face of Kimura came into view, pushing his glasses further up his face.

He walked slowly past her not even paying attention. Kaorin waited until he walked to the back of the basement before she ran out of her hiding place and up the stairs. When she had gotten to the top, she ran out of the building.

Kimura was crouched down, still in the basement. He stood back up with a small book in hand. Smiling, he walked back up the stairs.

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Naoko sat with her eyes closed in the back room of her current resting building. Outside the door, two Lyracl soldiers were hardly recognizable with the injuries that they had sustained at the hands of Naoko.

She reached out for any Human mind within her distance. She felt her way across the minds of the animals that go unnoticed, and those even farther than that. Soon, she felt a sentient mind.

Interested, she dug into it. As she soared through the feelings of this creature, she saw that it was a Human. The person's mind was strange. It had massive holes all throughout it. Immaterially, she ran into a wall. Soon after this she was cast from the mind of the person, and all the way back into her own mind.

The force of the return threw her back. Naoko sat back up in time to see the door burst in. She acted on reflex and sprung to her feet. Three Lyracl soldiers stood there with there rifles pointed at her.

She soon ended that threat as she tore each of the aliens' minds in two. They fell to the ground shaking uncontrollably, and holding their head. Naoko stepped over them. She had to find that Human.

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Kanyl watched the reports fly across the flashing screen. The _Syralri Kurous_ had a massive breakout. Every cell had opened at once, and the prisoners were quickly overrunning the ship.

He heard the door open and turned around. Standing in the doorway were two Lyracl soldiers carrying a Pyrsi. They walked forward, sat the Pyrsi down, and bowed to their Emperor Prince. Kanyl looked down at the motionless Pyrsi.

One of the soldiers looked up at Kanyl and said, "Your highness, we bring you the Sur'Pyrs-Ureyli, Iyrael Kastyr. We believed you would be interested in seeing him." Kanyl turned back around.

"M-my lord?" stuttered the soldier. "He has failed me. He shall be given no second chance," Kanyl said to the two Lyracl. They bowed shakily and took the dead Iyrael away.

Kanyl walked back to the screens and continued watching them.

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The girls and their alien protector, Eylmey, ran down the long hallway of the Lyracl ship. Eylmey had said nothing about where they were going. They had passed many fights between different alien races and Lyracl and the lizard men.

Minamo ran up next to Eylmey, who was leading the group through the massive cruiser. "We need to find Osaka," she said to him. Eylmey nodded and turned left at an intersection.

He stopped at a door with another symbol on it. When they walked in front of it, it slid open. Eylmey led them inside. It was a small room with a few tables scattered around it. Before long, they saw Osaka laying on one of the tables.

The group ran over to her. She looked like she was in pain, though there was no injuries on her whatsoever. Eylmey picked her up and motioned to the exit. The girls began to run without question back out the door.

Before they could reach it, the door slid open again. Kar-kazan stepped into the room, lips curled in his peoples' excuse for a smile. Eylmey put Osaka on a table and pulled out the small disruptor again.

He pressed the button and drew Kaesyn.

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Kaorin fell face first on the asphalt of the road. She had used the last of the painkillers an hour ago, and the poison was beginning to take effect again.

Her body resisting to the movement the entire time, Kaorin struggled to push herself back up. Suddenly, her entire body was struck by pain. She coughed before vomiting on the ground in front of her.

She saw blood mixed in it. Wiping her mouth she stood and tried to walk. She walked for ten seconds before she fell against the wall of a nearby building.

She covered her mouth with her hand when she felt the urge to vomit again. Her small attempts against it were useless, though. After three more piles of blood and puke, she fell onto a pile of rubble.

She lay there breathing heavily for some time before her eyes began to close. The last thing she remembered before falling to dreams were footsteps coming towards her.

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Translations: Sur'Pyrs-Ureyli – Grand Slayer-Guard

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_Keshi-sama: Short chapter! Two things to look forward to in the next chapter. Thanks to all of you who are reading this story. I am actually running out of names for chapters, so it would be appreciated if you could help me with ideas. Reviews are welcome._


	11. Dyven Hel

_CHAPTER 10 Dyven-Hel_

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

Kar-kazan took a step into the room. Eylmey and the girls took a step back away from him. The tiger-alien began to laugh, a loud, growl kind of laugh. "Fools! You thought you could steal _this _one from me? HA! Her mind screams to me!"

Eylmey handed the unconscious Osaka to Minamo and drew Kaesyn. Kar-kazan let out another short laugh and crouched into a tiger like attack stance. Eylmey took a deep breath and charged. Kar-kazan swiped at him with one large claw.

The prince barely managed to dodge it. Kar-kazan took advantage of his foe's momentary opening and tore into his mind. Eylmey dropped Kaesyn to grab his head. Kar-kazan stepped towards him.

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The teenage girl slowly opened her eyes. '_Where am I?'_ she thought as she sat up. Looking around, she saw that she was in a small room with silver walls. Many lights overhead had lights a shade of blue so light, that she could barely tell the difference from white.

The door in the corner of the room slid open quietly and a pale-skinned woman walked in, wearing a dark blue robe. She walked over to the girl on the bed. "You are finally awake. Good," she said as she walked over to a small panel on the wall.

She pressed a button that appeared on it and walked back to the girl on the bed. "Rest," she said, "Soon, everything will be over."

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A bright blue flash filled the room. Kar-kazan stopped mid-step as Eylmey's disruptor went off. His hold on Eylmey was broken, and the prince launched a kick at the tiger-alien's head.

Kar-kazan just barely managed to stop him. The psychic tiger-alien attempted once more to enter Eylmey's mind. He stood, surprised, when he could not reach out to anything. Eylmey smiled. "I know what you are, Kyshen, and you shouldn't exist. Kanyl terminated the experiments years ago."

Kar-kazan roared at the prince, "What have you done to me?!" as he charged with anger. Eylmey pulled out a dagger and cut across the tiger-alien's face. Kar-kazan jumped back from Eylmey after he had cut him.

The tiger-alien had blood leaking into his vision. He roared again as Eylmey began to speak. "These disruptors are for more than disabling electric devices. They were also designed as a weapon against your kind, in case they ever got… out of hand," Eylmey said as he pulled another disruptor from his suit.

Eylmey stepped towards Kar-kazan while talking, "Now, we will be going, and there's not much you can do to stop us from doing so." Eylmey motioned for the girls to follow him and walked out the door.

Kar-kazan stood there, growling at the girls as they passed. Sakaki had no intention of going near this cat.

Eylmey led them down the hallway towards the docking bay. There were several alien corpses littering the path. The deep blue lights seemed to be having electrical problems, as most of them were flickering. Tomo stepped around a tiger-alien of the same species as Kar-kazan.

The group walked further down the hallway until they came to a bulkhead door. Eylmey swiped his hand across the panel to make the door open, and walked, girls following. Inside the docking bay were several fighter craft. Eylmey led them to another section of the docks. When they arrived, they saw a half-dozen personnel transports.

They walked to the one closest to an airlock. As they were getting into it, the door to the docks opened and seven Lyracl soldiers stepped through, supported by two of the lizard men. Eylmey hurried the girls into the shuttle and pulled out his rifle. Firing at the hostiles, he backed into the shuttle as well.

He pressed the panel next to the hatch to close it and rushed to the pilot's seat. Sitting down, he instantly began pressing buttons and pulling levers. Soon they were above the floor. "Hang on!" yelled Eylmey as the shuttle shot out the airlock tunnel. Small lasers could be seen bouncing off the exterior of the transport.

The shuttle shook as it began to go through the atmosphere. Eylmey stared in weak horror as the front of the transport began to peel back. "The plating is to thin! Brace yourselves!" he yelled to the girls as he began to push several buttons and pull a lever. He leaned forward with heat in his eyes. They would make it through if it killed him.

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Kanyl growled in his throat as he walked down the halls of the _Herin Sylanti_. One of the remaining patrols on the prison barge had just reported that his brother had once again escaped to the surface of the Hur'Byrtens' home world.

Eylmey was escaping every time he was captured, and it was he who was responsible every time. '_Just like on Hyreth… No. It will not happen again. I know what to do if __**that **__is his plan.' _He smiled. '_I will not lose to you this time, Jykren.'_ His remaining Pyrs-Ureyl stood at attention as he walked past them. '_Pity that Iyrael had to die. He was the best.'_

Kanyl turned sharply to the left into a brightly lit room. The old woman, Vaera, he believed her name was, turned to him from a computer screen. She bowed deeply to him while saying, "My lord." She stood back up strait and continued talking. "The subject has been nullified from physical and mental stress. The power of the Mark will not become available again until Tyreyl's Moon."

Kanyl smiled, "Good. If the power is available on Tyreyl's Moon, then we will have more power than we could ever have imagined." Vaera bowed again as he turned and walked out the door. '_Dyrel orype teyn, Jykren.'_

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Naoko pushed the dead Hakrsat off of the end of her hand. The damn lizard-men had been popping up everywhere. The Lyracl must have found one of their posts. The Hakrsat were mercenaries that mainly worked for the Lyracl, though they have been known to work for other races.

She pulled up the coat that she had taken from a Lyracl soldier's corpse further around her neck. Cold winds were blowing during summer. _4000 years have passed_. Naoko closed her eyes, trying to remember what that meant.

She walked down an alley while still trying to remember. As soon as she reached the end, it came to her. _Tyreyl's Moon, the one day every 4000 years, which the heir of the Lyracl's power will be shown the path to it. Cold winds blow on the world that the heir is present on when this day approaches._

Naoko's eyes widened and she hurried her pace. They must be defeated before the Moon comes to pass.

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Osaka groaned. The landing had been terrible. She looked around at what had happened. The ship was a pile of wreckage scattered about the local area. The once silver metal was charred from the heat of the impact. Apparently, Lyracl personnel transports were not made to enter atmospheres at such a speed that they were thrown with. She looked down at her lower body and nearly screamed. There were no legs there. Pain at last gripped her mind and blanketed it. Uncontrollable spasms of pain and fear shook her as she realized what happened to the others.

Sakaki was hanging limply from the branches of a tree, and it looked like every bone in her body had been broken. Minamo was lying face down on the ground, the side hatch of the transport lying on top of her. Yomi was pinned to the ground by the tip of one of the wings, blood leaking out from beneath her, and half of her face ripped to shreds by some unknown cause. Tomo's hand could roughly be seen out from under the half of the ship that had flipped over when they had landed. Chiyo was laying on her side, her body cut strait up the middle, blood flowing out like a river from it. Eylmey, if that was his name, was sitting in the pilot's chair, which was in the amazingly intact front part of the ship, head smashed through the control panel and his back filled with shards of the transparent metal the Lyracl use to make the windows in space-going vessels.

'_Brace yourselves!'_ She roughly remembered Eylmey yelling that soon before they had crashed, but it was all foggy. She tried sitting up with out her legs, and failed. Dimly, she was aware of the pain fading away. She could feel her life being pulled from her, and closed her eyes in welcome to death.

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Yukari stood up from behind the small ruined wall she was hiding behind and looked around. The hulking dog-thing seemed to have left. She walked carefully over towards a small exit that led to the alley. It had been at least 2 hours since she had left Naoko, that freak of nature, created by these aliens, the Lyracl. Yukari hated her for being one of them, but still…

She shook her head. She shouldn't be worrying about an honorary alien. They were evil, that was sure. Yukari stepped around the corner of the doorway. The alley had a Human corpse lying stretched out across the end, burn marks covering it. Yukari was unable to make out a gender from the burns that covered it, and she didn't really care, for lying next to its hand, was, though a tad bit burned, a XD-45 Compact handgun. She shook as she approached it.

A gun. A projectile weapon which was made for the purpose of defense, but now shall be used to retaliate. Yukari smiled. Now she would get revenge on those alien bastards.

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Osaka's eyes opened. '_Wasn't Ah supposed to be dead?'_ she thought. Eyes fully opened, she looked around. She was back in the ship, the heat of it bursting through Earth's atmosphere. All of the other girls were around her, holding themselves down. Eylmey was looking through the pilot's window with extreme determination.

She sat up and heard, "Osaka!" She turned her head towards the voice and saw Tomo, holding to the bottom of her chair. "Get down!" she yelled again. Osaka looked around. '_Ah didn't die… GAH!'_ "Everyone, get in the middle! Mr. Alien, don't land in that open space!" She yelled getting up.

"I have to. It's the only one nearby." "Land in those trees over there, the branches will cushion our landing." "We will die!" Osaka looked down at the land quickly approaching them. "We're gonna die anyway, so why not try?"

Eylmey's face showed doubt for a second, soon replaced by the same determination. "Alright," he said pulling the controls to the right. Looking back a second at the unprotected girls he took off his dark blue cloak. "Give this to them. You get under it too. It was made to resist heat at 75 degrees Celsius. It might not be much protection, but it's better than nothing."

Osaka nodded and walked back into the transport's main part. Covering herself up in the process, she covered all the other girls with the cloak. Seeing no other alternative, she closed her eyes and wished for the best.

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Vaera walked into the girl's room. The Human herself was looking through one of the books from the shelf, looking very confused. Hearing Vaera walk in, she looked up and ask, "Do you have anything in Japanese?" Holding up the book, she showed that it was nothing but Lyracl letters. Vaera laughed slightly and responded, "I'm very sorry, little one, but we couldn't manage to find any."

"Ah. I see…" the girl trailed off, a cloudy expression crawling across her face. Suddenly a cheerful look appeared again and she started talking again. "You know Raen, the man who comes through here and puts everything back where it's supposed to be?" Vaera nodded." Well last night he brought in this," she said holding up a small crystal. "I don't know what it is, but I think he thinks it's important."

Vaera's breath caught at the sight of the crystal. '_A Dyven-Hel. How could a janitor get one of those?' _She grabbed it with a smile at the teenage girl and examined it. On all sides, she saw the runes: Life, Death, Heaven, Hell, Light, Dark, and Universe. With a Dyven-Hel, a person could become a master of the afterlife. Only four were known to be in existence.

She closed her hand around it and said, "I need to take a good look at this," and she walked out the door. The girl sat there, unhappy that the crystal was taken, but fully occupied with making a city out of many little wooden blocks.

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_Blam_. A Lyracl soldier clutched the hole in his chest while falling over, his companions instantly on alert. _Blam_. Another soldier fell dead, missing an eye. _Blam_. A third alien's life ended with his heart punctured by a bullet. The remaining Lyracl scattered in fear of what was responsible for their comrades' deaths. Once they had gotten far enough away, Yukari judged it safe enough to come out of the dark alley.

She walked over to the fallen bodies of the three Lyracl soldiers and picked up one of their rifles. Hefting it up onto her shoulder, she began to walk across the road to the next alley. The streets were littered with all sorts of rubbish. Yukari walked past a pile of dead Humans without giving it a glance. She had become immune to the carnage.

Her stomach began to rumble as she stepped into the alley. She looked up and saw that the sun was already on the other side of the sky. '_18 hours is long enough without food'_ she thought. Turning back out of the alley, she turned and went into the large building next to her.

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Vaera walked down the halls of the _Herin Sylanti_ ate a quick pace. She had to find Raen. Clutching the Dyven-Hel harder, she walked past a pair of bowing servants. She finally stopped in front of one of the maintenance ways. Stepping into it, her genetically altered vision changed to allow her to see in the dim teal light. Up ahead, Raen shooed away a small group of Teyr rats.

Turning, Raen saw her and smiled. "Lady Vaera, it is good to see you," he said, bowing. Vaera moved towards him to grab him by his suit's color. Whispering with venom, she asked," Where did this come from?" holding up the Dyven-Hel. "Ah, that. I brought it with me from Lyrai. It is a family heirloom. We have been guarding that Dyven-Hel for generations."

"Why give it to that Human girl, then, if it is so important?" Vaera asked. "She reminds me of my own daughter back on Lyrai. I felt like it belonged to her," Raen responded. "Whatever you felt, it is mine now," Vaera said, turning away. Walking out of the maintenance way, she began to return to her post by the girl.

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Muryl watched Vaera walk out of the maintenance way. As soon as she left, he pressed a small button fused to his ear. Speaking into it, he said, "She has taken the stone, my Lady."

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Translations: Jykren – Brother(lesser)

Dyrel orype teyn, Jykren – Let it begin, Brother(lesser)

Tyreyl's Moon – One day every 4000 years that the path to the ultimate power of the Lyracl is shown. The wind affects the planet where the heir is.

Vaera – Patience, name form. Natural form, Fayrl

Dyven-Hel – Soul-Gem

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_Keshi-sama: IT IS FINISHED! The chapter is finally done. I know I said that it would be extra long, but I thought I'd leave ya there with a little cliff-hanger. Thanks to Weener1 for betaing, and to handgunsmag for the XD-45 Compact. Any guesses as to who the girl is?(probably obvious) Reviews are welcome._


	12. Loyalty

_CHAPTER 11 Loyalty_

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

Jaryl stepped into the regeneration chamber. '_Damn Byrten. So troublesome. I can't see why the Prince, Kan'l, of all people, would let 'em live. I will show him his mistake,'_ he thought as he walked to the regeneration tanks' master control. After pressing a combination of buttons, he turned to watch the light in the tanks fade.

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Eylmey's vision was blurred. '_Why did I listen to her?'_ the former prince thought as he rubbed his head. He waited for his vision to return before sitting up. Looking around, he saw the wreckage of the ship. Laying around him were the Byrtel girls, unconscious but all in reasonably good shape, aside from a few scratches. He stood and looked himself over.

It seemed as though he was in the worst shape. The cloak actually did the Byrten some good, as none of them were badly bleeding. Eylmey bent down to pick up his cloak off the ground. Putting it back around his shoulders, he turned to wake up the girls.

After some time, he had them all up and ready to move. Tomo stretched and yawned rather loudly. Yomi was cleaning off her glasses with her sleeve. Minamo was checking to see what they still had. Sakaki was standing near Chiyo, who was helping Minamo. Osaka was standing by herself, looking into the clouds.

"We had best start off," Eylmey said. They gathered everything together quickly, and began to walk off towards Tokyo.

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Rylan stood in front of the experiment's transport. He yawned and turned to his fellow guard. "How long 'till we're done?" he asked. Talya shrugged and responded, "Whenever the Kyshen gets here, I guess." Rylan sighed and turned away from his female partner. They had been standing guard for hours now, and he was starting to lose his patience with the Kyshen, no matter what they were.

That experiment had proven to be a problem for him and Talya. When it first arrived, they had looked in to see what it was. Rylan's body still hurt from when it had grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.

He yawned again and looked around. The sun was overhead, lighting up the silver metal of the temporary outpost around them. Over the small wall, he could see a dead Byrtel hanging from one the buildings. The Lyracl that were teamed with Hakrsat had grown into the habit of showing off their kills.

"Did you hear that?" he heard Talya ask. He turned and said, "Hear what?" Talya looked around and responded, "Nothing," Rylan shrugged and turned back around. After a while he said, "I need to walk." He took a few steps and turned the corner of the transport, and collided with another body.

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Naoko prepared to fight as the Lyracl stood. He gasped as he saw her, obviously knowing who she was. The guard scrambled to bow as the other walked around the corner. The Lyracl woman smiled and made a small bow. "Muryl said it would be a Byrtel. I am Talya, and this is Rylan," she said, straitening her back. Naoko tilted her head as she peaked into their minds. '_I'm sorry, but you're not allowed in here,'_ was the thought she received as she was pushed out of Talya's mind.

"We are part of the Dryka Mirkat, working inside Kanyl's forces. We were given this experiment to guard. We used this-," she said, holding up a small device, "-to attract only the most powerful Kyshen. You. There is something we need to show you." Talya turned and beckoned for Naoko to follow.

She walked around the side to the front of the transport and pressed a few buttons on the small panel next to the door. Rylan walked next to her with his rifle in hand. The panel sunk into the door and the Lyracl stepped back. "I suggest you do the same. The experiment is very dangerous," she said to Naoko as Rylan shivered. Slowly, the door slid open, light spilling into the darkness inside the transport. Naoko could see a pair of feet in the corner, the rest of the body concealed by the shadows.

Talya turned her head to Naoko. "This is the first in line of a new breed of soldier, the Sylrsel 1." The figure in the corner stood and walked into the light. "Hello, Naoko."

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Eylmey and the girls walked through the outer part of Tokyo. The wreckage was lighter here, and not as many dead bodies were littering the street. It was sometime after noon, but the heat of summer was not present. Cold winds blew, making Eylmey flinch. '_It approaches,'_ he thought as he pulled on the side of his cloak.

The girls had accepted the fact that there was death, and that there was a good chance that they would all die as well. Tomo walked with her hands behind her head. Osaka had fully recovered, and was able to walk by herself. Chiyo walked alongside Sakaki. Minamo was near Eylmey. Yomi sighed as she walked up to Tomo. "Do you trust him?" she asked her wildcat friend. "He's gotten us this far, so why not?" was Tomo's reply, a question for a question.

"He's one of _them_," Yomi said, "How do we know we can?" Tomo pulled her hands down long enough to shrug, "He seems like he's on our side. Besides, what could we do without him? He knows more about what's happening." Yomi sighed again. She didn't trust Eylmey, even if he said he was friendly.

Osaka was thinking to herself. '_How did Ah know what was gonna happen? Am Ah psychic now or somethin'?'_ She continued to ponder that as the group moved through the ruins of a former shop. Eylmey ducked under a fallen support beam that had fallen across the building. He looked back at the girls for a second before continuing.

The tall one, called Sakaki, had small cuts across her arms and legs, and a long one across her cheek. Chiyo wasn't badly hurt, mainly scrapes. Tomo had a long cut up the side of her leg. '_That will scar,'_ Eylmey thought, seeing that. Yomi had several bruises along with a burn on her shoulder from a weak laser shot that she hadn't noticed. Osaka still had a small burn on her shoulder from the day before, along with new cuts from the crash. Minamo, the one who followed him, had one of her sleeves sliced to ribbons, though still attached to the shirt, and a cut stretching down her forehead to the left to the bottom of her cheek.

He himself had small burns spotting the front of his clothing and armor. His gloves were gone, as was the top of his left boot. Eylmey again pulled at his cloak as his small group of survivors stopped to rest in the alley next to the store.

They hid behind some stray rubble piled around in it. It had been a little over an hour and a half since they had crashed, and they had run half of the way back, which was around six miles. During their rest, they jumped at the sound of footsteps coming closer. They stopped right outside it and the girls all froze. Eylmey peeked his head slowly around the side of the rubble he had hid behind to see what had stopped.

He saw a pair of Lyracl soldiers stopped in front of the alley, obviously sure that they had secured the city and its surrounding area. They started talking almost as soon as Eylmey had seen them. "Have you seen what these Haruksa do with their kills?" asked one of the soldiers. "Don't they hang them from high places?" was the questioning answer. "Besides that. I saw one of them _eating_ a dead female," the first soldier explained.

"Not even these Hur'Byrten deserve that their dead be eaten by some lizard." "I agree. We shouldn't even have offered these beasts their pay, but it is the Prince's will, and we should try to tolerate them, at least until this world is cleansed of the Hur'Byrten filth and brought into the Empire."

The other soldier nodded slightly. The Lyracl stood for a while longer before continuing on. Eylmey breathed out as he turned back to the girls. "We need to keep moving," he said to them as he stood, straitening his cloak. The group was off back into the city within a short time.

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Vaera rolled the Dyven-Hel in between her fingers, thinking over what she had found. Raen's story seemed to be correct, as she could not find any missing information on the crew files. '_Damn that Raen,'_ the Lyracl woman thought as she turned the Dyven-Hel around again. Sighing, annoyed, she sat the crystal on her desk and stood up. '_Those Humans take constant care. Frail things,' _Vaera thought.

She walked out of her observation office and into the girl's room. The girl was busing herself with a small piece of paper and a pencil. She seemed to be humming. "Hum humhum humHUM! Hum humhum humHUM! Hum humhum humhum humHUM, Hum humhum humhum! Oh, hi!" she said cheerfully, finally realizing that Vaera was there. Vaera smiled warmly and said, "You seem to be having fun."

The girl nodded and said, "Um hum! I'm drawing a picture, see?" The girl held up the picture for Vaera to see. In amazing detail, it showed a burning star, with a Ravager Ballistic Barge flying above the ruins of a large building. Vaera inwardly gasped at the drawing. '_This girl shouldn't know what a Ravager looks like! How could someone with the mentality of a 9 year old have the ability anyway?' _**(A/N: Remember, Lyracl age three times slower than Humans, so the age really is 3) **

Outwardly, she smiled and said, "It is very nice." The Human girl grinned happily and went back to drawing. Vaera stood and left the room. These Humans were becoming more and more interesting.

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Kagura coughed as she fell forward onto her knees. She coughed for a short time more and looked up. Just ahead of her, was one of the invaders. Growling, Kagura leaped up and charged straight towards the alien. The alien just watched her with and angry/annoyed look on his face. Kagura approached him rapidly. Just as she got within arm's length of the alien, a small laser pistol appeared in front of her face.

She stopped almost instantly while the alien said in a rough voice, "Is that how you Byrten show you gratitude to those who save you? Right now, I could end your life with a single movement of my finger, but I won', by Eylmey's order." He had the gun back up and turned away almost instantly. For the first time, Kagura noticed that other people were in the room with her and the alien.

She also notice that she was soaked, as were the others. Shaking, she finally straitened her back, though she did not relax. The alien was speaking to the other people in the room. She couldn't hear him, so she walked towards the group. All she caught was the end of the last sentence. "-need to get off'a this ship, n' I'm the only one who knows how," was what she heard.

The group, although reluctantly, gathered behind the alien. Kagura stood off to the side and stared until they began to walk towards the alien auto-door. She then followed them. It seemed as though there was only one way off the ship, if the alien wasn't lying.

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Yukari stepped into the large building. She was in the lobby of some sort of office building. The woman walked up to the Receptionist's desk. There was a large piece of the wood missing from it. Looking over the desk, she saw the fate that had befallen the unfortunate receptionist.

Yukari turned back around to see a splintered door. She walked up to it, stopping when she heard noise from inside the room. Throwing herself against the wall, lightly, she pulled the handgun into her hand. She peeked slowly around the corner of the door and looked in,

Inside the room was one of those dog-things. It was eating a dead one, and every now and then, it would sniff the air. It smelled the air again, and stopped. Turning around, Yukari saw that the creature had a look to kill on its face. It growled and ran towards the door, barking madly. Yukari turned away from the corner as the beast broke through what was left of the door.

She began to run towards the flight of stairs on the opposite side of the room. The thing could easily be heard behind her. She turned her head over her shoulder and fired a pair of rounds from her XD-45 Compact at the beast. It just shrugged off the wounds and kept running. _'Damn, what does it take to kill that thing?!'_ she thought as she turned back around.

Yukari started up the stairs, still running. The beast was faster than her, and she could hear it catching up to her. Up ahead, she spotted a small chunk of the stairs that were ripped up from its foundation. She changed the part of the stairs she was running up. '_Just a little farther…'_ she thought quickly, as she could hear the beast just right behind her.

She jumped over the stair chunk and pushed it down with her legs as she passed over it. Turning around, she saw the dog-thing be hit by the falling stone chunk. It fell down the stairs, howling loudly as it did so. Yukari waited for a few seconds before turning and continuing up the stairs.

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Kar-kazan stomped down the halls of the _Syralri Kurous_ towards the docking bay. The traitor prince had humiliated him, and no sensible Tigriza could allow their honor to take that damage. Lyracl servants scattered away from him in fear as the tiger-alien stormed past. Three Haruksa mercenaries stepped aside, but eyed him angrily.

Kar-kazan stepped through the auto-door into the docking bay, where there was much action happening. The bay was wrecked, most of the ships damaged. Repair teams scurried back and forth, trying to fix the destroyed ships and the small parts of the walls that were torn. Since the breakout, the Lyracl had been trying to repair the massive damage done.

Kar-kazan stepped down the stairs from the catwalk that connected the doors of the upper levels of the ship here. He headed for the nearest available transport and stepped inside it.

The crew inside were startled at his appearance. They started out the door. Kar-kazan growled as he grabbed one of them by their shirt. "You will drive me to the planet, NOW!" he yelled as he threw the terrified Lyracl towards the cockpit of the transport. '_I will have my vengeance!' _he thought angrily, looking out the steelglass panel to the planet below them.

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Translations: (Some I forgot) Raen – Silver, name form. Natural form, Uyae

Lyrai – Destiny, the Lyracl home world

Rylan – Autumn, name form. Natural form, Rayve

Talya – Spring, name form. Natural form, Uara

Sylrsel – Regenerative Combat Assault Unit

Tigriza – Kar-kazan's race

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_Keshi-sama: Yet another chapter finished! Next chapter will be the last one before the flashback is over! If there are any words that you want translated into Lyracl, I would be happy to do so. Reviews are welcome._


	13. Spectrum

_CHAPTER 12 Spectrum_

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters_

_Keshi-sama: Sorry that it took so long, but here it is!_

Kagura followed the group of people and the alien through the alien cruiser. The alien had gotten them past several patrols of others, but she was still suspicious. _'Better safe than sorry,'_ she thought. The walls hummed faintly and shone with a dim blue light.

The alien leading them, Jyral, as he had identified himself, led them through twists and turns that left Kagura confused. She began to wonder where they were headed.

She saw stacked piles of bodies. Invaders, hounds, humans, and many others she hadn't seen before. Occasionally, the passed aliens attempting to repair parts of the wall and floor or cleaning the bodies from the center of the hallway.

Eventually, Jyral led the survivors into a large room with an alien symbol on the door. He turned back to them and said, "We're here. Those of ya who can use guns, grab one from over there, but no funny business." He pointed to a line of alien weapons placed on holders attached to the walls.

"After that, get on one of those pan'ls in the middle of the room and wait until I tell ya what ta do," he finished. Kagura grabbed a small alien handgun and stood on a panel near the door. Her experience with guns was limited, but at least she had a weapon.

Jyral waited until everyone stood on a panel before getting on one himself. "Get ready," he said while pressing buttons on pad that sank into the floor.

A cylinder of light surrounded each person. Kagura looked down at the glowing circle before the world winked out of existence.

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Eylmey and the girls walked through the now abandoned streets of Tokyo, moving as carefully as possible. It was quiet except for the occasional bird or wind gust.

The former prince listened as an aluminum can rattled out of an alley into the road. He didn't look at it, but he did wrap his hand around Kaesyn's handle. The girls stayed calm as well. They continued on their way through the city, quickly glancing at the shadows as they passed.

Eylmey watched shadows retreat into the dark. They were large and muscular, so by the way they hid, he guessed they were Haruksa Night Scales. Maybe a few Pyrs-Ureyl.

He fell back to the party of Byrten behind him. "Stay close to me. There might be trouble," he told them. The girls obeyed silently, now more nervous about what might be following them.

The group continued on, the shadows following them. _Zchowwww..._ Eylmey ducked as a flayer round flew past his head. The others did the same, obviously frightened.

A few seconds later, Tomo yelled ,"What was that!?" A pair of Pyrs-Ureyl charged from a nearby building as several Night Scales poured out from everywhere. Eylmey jumped back up and drew Kaesyn. He charged into the mass, yelling, "Follow me! I'll cut a path!"

He swung Kaesyn to deflect a Haruksa axe and kicked the beast in its gut. Tomo threw a piece of rubble at one, making it fall to the ground. Sakaki dove under a Haruksa weapon and punched its wielder. Yomi fought another back with a deformed piece of metal. Minamo kicked a Haruksa away from her and swung her arm around to hit another, followed by another kick. Eylmey finished off another Haruksa and yelled, "Go! I'll handle this!" The girls fell back through the opening carved by Eylmey and ran, Yomi stumbling over a rock.

They turned down another street with Minamo leading them, carrying Chiyo, who couldn't keep up. The sounds of battle faded, and the girls hid in the remainders of a florist's shop, waiting for a time.

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Eylmey turned as soon as the girls started to run and blocked a lunge from one of the Pyrsi. The Pyrsi jumped away and a Haruksa took his place. This one instantly attacked, but Eylmey stopped it and retaliated by slashing the lizard across the chest.

It screamed as it fell, and more charged. Eylmey spun around one and cut across its back and knocked away a spear. He ducked as another flayer round flew over his head, hitting the Haruksa instead. Eylmey turned and threw a knife in the gunner's direction, catching him off guard and sinking into his forehead.

The prince turned and slashed down, cutting off a Haruksa's hand. It hissed and withdrew, quickly replaced by another. This one swiped at him with its massive claws, which he counted by swinging his sword up sideways under its arm. This knocked the Haruksa off balance and Eylmey finished it with a thrust.

He growled as he spun around with his sword, killing another Haruksa and knocking a Pyrsi back. The numbers advancing on him seemingly had no end. With every one he killed, another would take its place. The Lyracl continued fighting. He would not let them pass.

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Naoko stared at the person before her. In the transport stood a teenager clothed in a male school uniform. Ohyama looked at her with a small grin. "So, how's everything on the outside?" he asked her, taking a step out of the transport. "Ruins and death," she responded. Ohyama was dead, too. He shouldn't be here.

Ohyama nodded and fixed his glasses, stepping in front of the Kyshen. Talya and Rylan backed away from him. Naoko looked up at Ohyama. "How?" she asked. He shrugged. "Don't really know. I remember running from the Lyracl in the cafeteria, next thing I know, I'm laying on a table in front of some scientists."

He looked behind Naoko and saw the two Lyracl guards hiding behind a box. He laughed at this. "Very brave of you two," he said. Ohyama looked back at Naoko. "I suppose they let me out for a reason."

Talya stepped forward and nodded. "Indeed. We need you two to help us. Muryl gave us a mission from our second-in-command." She pulled out a small device and said, "This is a high-powered plasma assassin bomb, or Pythe. We need someone to plant this in the new Imperial HQ here planet side undetected. Normally, one of the Drykal would take care of this, but only strictly authorized personnel, chosen by Kanyl himself, can enter. We need a Kyshen to handle any electronics or other Kyshen on Kanyl's side, and a Sylrsel to quietly subdue patrols and to fight if detected." Talya stopped for a moment before continuing. "Luckily, you," she pointed to Ohyama, " Were sent here for us to guard, and you," she pointed to Naoko, "Have been making enough trouble with the Imperials that we knew you still lived. The two of you together should be able to do this."

Ohyama coughed into his hand. "And do we get a choice?" Talya shook her head and replied, "No." The Sylrsel sighed and said, "Didn't think so."

Naoko nodded and asked, "When do we leave and where are we headed?" "When you're rested enough, and west of here," Talya answered. Ohyama stretched his arm and said, "Guess this is better than being locked up or some Lyracl puppet."

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Kanyl watched the video receiver on the main screen. He had one of his Pyrsi take a transmitter with him on his mission to hunt Eylmey. His brother had obviously learned something with the Amayri. Over a dozen Night Scales were dead, and one of the Pyrsi were badly injured.

Eylmey was holding his ground well against the numbers Kanyl had set on him. Kanyl turned to the pair of servants behind him. "Have the _Salrith_ readied for flight." The two bowed and hurried off carrying his order. Kanyl turned back to watch the fight. This conflict would soon be over.

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Minamo looked out the door of the shop they were hiding in, looking back and forth. Turning her head, she said, "Let's go." They girls all exited the building, and stood outside. Minamo took a pile of rubble on the side of the road and made them point slightly toward the path they were going to take. "Do we have to do this?" Yomi asked.

Minamo nodded. "Eylmey's our best chance. We can't give it up." They continued, leaving small directions following them. Soon, Sakaki spotted a building with its doors hanging open and some Lyracl laying dead in front of it, which they decided to investigate. With new Lyracl weapons, the girls entered the building.

There was a receptionist's desk, the receptionist himself dead behind it. A dead dog creature like the one that had attacked them was in a room with a broken door. Another one lay under a chunk of stair with bleeding bullet wounds.

Yomi and Tomo looked up the stairs. They looked recently used, as there were footprints of dirt and dust trailing up them. "Looks like someone's up there," Tomo said starting up the stairs, making the Lyracl rifle more comfortable against her arm. The two made their way upstairs.

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Eylmey ducked under the arm of another Haruksa, bringing Kaesyn across its side as he went. The beast's blood sprayed the ground as it fell. Eylmey rose a brought the crimson colored blade up to knock away the sword of a Pyrsi.

He took his advantage to run the elite warrior through with his sword, Kaesyn. The prince then sidestepped a Plas-laser aimed for his head. Lyracl soldiers had been attracted to the fight and had joined, giving the Haruksa ranged support.

Eylmey spun around for Kaesyn to meet a Haruksa's arm. The arm came clean off, flying a short distance away, trailing blood behind it. He thrust Kaesyn through the beast's body, finishing it off. As he pulled Kaesyn back, a Shock-halberd swung down where Eylmey's arms were a moment before.

The prince turned to face the Lyracl Aysla wielding the weapon. Eylmey lunged at the soldier with Kaesyn, but he was sidestepped. The Aysla then attempted to bring the bottom of his weapon's handle on Eylmey's back.

Eylmey rolled past it and stood back up to find two more Aysla'i and another Haruksa waiting for him. He immediately brought Kaesyn up to block another sword and stepped behind the enemy group. Plas-lasers fired from the side of the road into the group accidentally. The prince then sprinted over the falling corpses, slashing a Haruksa across the chest with Kaesyn as he did so, heading for the ranged soldiers.

They tried to hit him, but he managed to dodge most of them, the rest missed. Eylmey charged into the unprepared group, cutting down three before they had the chance to draw their knives. The former prince killed another two before the remainders fled.

He threw a knife into one's back as he attempted to run. Turning back around, Eylmey looked at the corpses of the fallen. The other Pyrsi and survivors had already fled.

Eylmey cleaned Kaesyn off with a piece of cloth and sheathed it. The former prince then turned down the road that the Byrten girls had gone and started off.

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Kagura's vision spun. She could barely make out the other people. They all seemed to be disoriented as well. The athlete felt herself fall to the ground. A hand grabbed hers to pull her back to her feet. A rough voice that she recognized spoke. "Relocation sickness. It'll wear off soon."

As Jyral had said, her vision started to clear and her head stopped hurting. She could see the man helping others too. After a while, everyone recovered enough to walk without falling. Kagura retrieved the alien handgun she found and began familiarizing herself with it.

She had never used a gun before, much less alien, so it was a difficult process. After a few minutes with the alien weapon, she looked around at her surroundings. They were back in Tokyo again. There were dead bodies in piles on the sides of the roads and wrecked cars and other vehicles in the roads. It was silent except for the wind blowing through the abandoned streets.

There wasn't any smell from the bodies, and she didn't feel disgusted by them at all. Jyral started gathering everyone up again to head off. Kagura approached him carefully. He looked at her as she neared him. "What d'ya want?" he asked.

"Why are you helping us?" she asked him. Jyral humphed. "'Cause I was told to. Not like I have any special likin' for you Byrten," he replied. After this, the alien shooed her off and returned to aiding an injured person.

Soon, he had everyone heading down a road, objective unknown to everyone but him. Kagura could see the dead closer now. Their bodies were littered with laser and plasma burns from alien guns and claw marks from what she assumed were the dogzards.

A few minutes passed quickly, and Jyral raised his hand to halt the advancing humans. "Hide," he told them, and the group started taking positions in the ruins. Kagura looked the way Jyral was from behind a dark blue car with a shattered window.

Up ahead, she could see four aliens running at a quick pace. Jyral straitened as they ran towards him. They were running from something, that was obvious from their movement; stumbling over rocks and rubble and watching behind them.

The aliens slowed as they approached Jyral. One of them yelled to Jyral as he came near. "Captain! Thank Kyrcaceyl it's you!" The group stopped in front of the man. "What's goin' on here?" Jyral asked the soldier impatiently.

The other alien drew in a sharp breath. "We engaged the traitor Eylmey in battle, sir." He motioned around to the other three soldiers. "There were twelve in our patrol when we found him, and he was already in combat with a pack of Hakrsat and two Pyrsi."

Jyral shook his head. "Your brains must be rotted if you're runnin' blindly at an enemy that can throw you around with one finger. Listen to the briefin's more next time, or you might not get out." The other soldier hung his head and nodded.

"Yes, sir." He looked at Jyral again. "Are there any further order from the Emperor Prince?" he asked. Jyral shrugged. "Dunno. My squad all got killed by berserk Hakrsat a while back, so I haven' heard from anyone for a while."

The alien nodded. "Then we continue with any previously given order, correct, sir?" Jyral nodded in return. "Yep, that's what we do. So carry on with whatever you were doin' before you got in a mess with Eylmey."

The other's hand snapped to his chest in salute. "Yes, sir!" he exclaimed before gathering his squad to move onward. Kagura watched the aliens leave before she went back out with the others to Jyral.

"C'mon," the alien said, motioning for them to follow as he turned to leave.

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Naoko and Ohyama both stood inside a crashed bus, looking at the Lyracl facility. Guards patrolled all around the base, Hounds sniffed the air, and automated defenses covered the base as well. Ohyama stared. "Umm... Right in there?" he asked.

Naoko nodded. "The Drykal didn't say anything about the insane amount of defenses, though." Ohyama turned to leave. "Well, good luck with getting in there," he said.

The Kyshen grabbed his shirt collar and held him. "You're coming with me." She then began pulling Ohyama around the facility, trying to stay undetected. It was difficult to do so with Ohyama complaining the whole way.

'_Goddamn... He won't shut up! Being revived sure changed his personality,'_ Naoko thought, sighing. The two eventually found a service entrance, guarded by a pair of Lyracl. "Time for you to show me what you can do," Naoko said to Ohyama, hiding behind a pile of rubble.

Ohyama laughed quietly. "No challenge." The boy sneaked away from Naoko, heading towards the Lyracl. Naoko watched him move before he suddenly turned into a blur. Half a second later, the Lyracl were both on the ground, neutralized.

Naoko stepped out and nodded, acknowledging his skill. Ohyama smirked and said, "Told you." He turned to the door and punched through it. After this, he pried it open from the hole. The two stepped into the complex and started off, looking for an acceptable place to plant the bomb.

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Translations: Amayri - Druids, a nearly extinct race that were completely in touch with nature. They were killed by Kanyl.

Salrith - Crimson Sky, a Lyracl Ravager-class destroyer.

Aysla – Brute

Aysla'i - Brutes

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_Keshi-sama: Since it was taking so long, I split the chapter in half, and the other half will be posted next. Be on the lookout! Reviews are welcome!_


	14. Spectrum, Part II

CHAPTER 13 Spectrum, Part II

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters, or is able to even keep them in character._

_Keshi-sama: Here's the second part of Spectrum. Enjoy!_

Iyrael's eyes opened slowly. _'Where am I?" _he thought lazily. The Lyracl sat up,dazed eyes searching around him. He was in some sort of room not of Lyracl creation. It seemed to be Hur'Byrtel architecture.

Standing up, he reached for his audio transmitter. The girl must have moved him after their fight. He felt around his ear. He jumped as he felt his hand touch his face. Iyrael moved his hand in front of his face.

Pale white skin greeted him instead of the black gauntlet he had become used to. He quickly subdued a flare of confusion. All of his armor had been stolen and he was instead dressed in some manner of cloth shirt and strange pants.

"Hello," a deep voice said. Iyrael spun around quickly, hand gripping for the knife he usually had at his side. Floating slightly above a stair was a strange shaped yellow... thing.

He stepped forward, ready to fight with anything since his knife was gone. "What are you?" he inquired of the strange creature. The thing floated down another stair before answering, "I, my good Iyrael, am a cat."

Iyrael stiffened. "What is a cat? And how do you know my name?"

The yellow cat floated down the rest of the stairs. "I am what a cat is," he pointed a fingerless hand at Iyrael,"And I am the one who made you."

The Pyrsi stared at him disbelievingly. "You are not the Ylunaylkaen," he said.

The cat floated towards Iyrael, causing him to take a step back. It seemed to sigh. "The Royal Blood still has that smell."

Iyrael's eyes flared. "Are you saying I am of the Blood?! That is preposterous! I am Iyrael Kastyr, son of Mynh Kastyr-Ralylan, not Nilmynavaas!"

The cat gave out a short laugh. "Nilmyna had more than two sons. Your mother is not Mynh, and your father is not Tynuren, but you are Nilmyna's son."

Iyrael took a step forward, growling, "I am not her child!" The yellow cat sighed again, obviously annoyed.

"Nilmyna passed on quite a bit of the Synrlasti stubbornness into you. She is your mother, Iyrael Synrlastivaas. You are the third son."

Iyrael rallied himself against the cat. "The Gyremperess had two sons. Only two! Emperor Kanyl Synrlastivaas and that teyk, Eylmey!"

The cat drew himself up, looking as if he had inflated. This man refused to see sense. Well, he would show him his error.

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Vaera sat watching the Human girl on the monitor in her office. The Dyven-Hel sat on her desk unattended. She had done many experiments, but none had proved the crystal to be anything but an Omni Dyven-Hel.

The girl was drawing again. Most of them were scenes of death or battle. Vaera had asked the Human why she drew such things, but the answer had been the same as the question. "Why do I draw these things?" For a surprisingly clueless girl, it was hard to believe that she was the Ayratyn.

Iyrael had done a wonderful job picking his target. Vaera heard the quiet whine of her door's automatic opening system.

She turned to it to see who would bother her. Her eyes widened in surprise._'Speak of the Vrynau.'_ "Iyrael... You were supposed to be dead," the old woman said. Iyrael limped into her office, eyes searching across the room.

"It should be plain that I am not, Vaera," he said before his eyes rested on a small gem. His trained eyes could see a tiny flaw in it. A small black dot that did nothing to compromise the rest of the Dyven-Hel sat in the middle.

_'A dot is commonly seen in Dyven-Hel as a soul, but this is no soul,'_ he thought. Iyrael looked at the monitor fused into the wall and saw the girl Vaera had been monitoring. _'Her...'_ he thought, remembering his torturing of the girl.

"Why are you here?" Vaera broke in. He turned to the old woman.

"I am here to serve the Imperial Throne," he responded.

Vaera took on an irritated look. "I gave you an order. _From the Imperial Throne! _To not follow it would be treason, and traitors will be dealt with severely. Now, leave me be, Hur'Pyrs-Ureyli," she said, before turning back around.

Iyrael stood there watching her, still as he could be. Vaera looked over her shoulder and exclaimed angrily, "I said leave, Ryk Hyrea!" The former Pyrsi took a step towards her. "I'm calling security," Vaera said, turning to her desk.

She started to press the switch that would summon a team of soldiers to her aid when, suddenly, she felt a sharp pain pierce her spine. Iyrael leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "Traitors will be dealt with severely, Vaera, and _you_ are a traitor."

Vaera felt her legs collapse and she fell to the cold floor. _'Kanyl... I'm sorry...'_

Iyrael stepped over her body and released the lock on the girl's room. Picking up the "Dyven-Hel", he left the room hurriedly and entered the room. "OMPF!" he grunted as the girl tackled him to the floor in a hug. _'Lucky for me it was furred,'_ he thought.

"Vaera! Vaera! Vae- Huh? You're not Vaera." The girl got off of Iyrael, who proceeded to push himself up from the floor. Suddenly. The girl cheered up again, asking, "Who are you? Are you Vaera's friend? Will you be _my_ friend? We'll be the best of friends! We can color pictures, draw pictures... umm... color pictures... that's about it! Well, will you be my friend?"

Iyrael rubbed his head in pain of a sudden headache. "Yes, I will be your friend, if you just leave with me," he said, standing up.

"Okay!" the girl exclaimed, jumping up.

"Alright," Iyrael said ,"Follow me, and don't get sidetracked!" He started off after the girl nodded vigorously. _'First thing first, I need to get some decent equipment,'_ the Lyracl thought, looking down at the oykane he was wearing.

Grasping the girl's hand he led her towards the armory.

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Yomi opened the door, Tomo following close behind. They scanned the room as they entered. A desk, computer, chair, and closet. "Nothing in here, Yomi. And you were so worried," Tomo taunted, laughing.

"I was not!" Yomi protested, turning to leave after her.

"Whate-" Tomo stopped at the sound of the closet opening. Both the girls turned towards it, guns extended, ready for whatever might be in there. The door creaked open fully, revealing a battered Yukari.

"Yukari-sensei!" Yomi exclaimed, lowering her 10mm.

The teacher walked into the room proper with the two students. She looked relieved at the sight of her students. "It's good to see you two. I thought I was the last person left out here."

Tomo shook her head and then shrugged. "Not the last, but close enough."

Yukari stiffened. "Why do you say that?"

Yomi walked over to the window and pushed the curtains aside. Pointing into the sky, she said, "That thing up there is where the majority of Tokyo's surviving population is."

Yukari walked over and peered out. "They have a space ship?!" she suddenly exclaimed, surprised by this sudden development.

"Yeah, and we had to fight our way off, too," Tomo added. She recounted what had happened to them since the invasion began, starting from when they were split up in the cafeteria.

"And that's how we ended up here. What about you, Yukari?" she asked.

Yukari laughed and pounded a fist into her other hand. "That's all you need to know."

"We should head back downstairs and help the others," Yomi intervened. The three headed back downstairs into the lobby. The dimly lit room was empty, but sounds of movement could be heard coming from the other rooms.

They walked into a room that looked like waiting room, the furniture tossed about as if in a panic. Sakaki turned her head from the medicine cabinet she was looking in. Her eyes widened at seeing Yukari. "Yukari-sensei!" she exclaimed.

"Yep! I'm back!" Yukari exclaimed in response, pointing her thumb at her chest with a smile.

At this point, Osaka and Chiyo walked in from the closet in the corner of the room, carrying a pair of boxes. "Ah, Yukari-sensei!" Chiyo exclaimed as well, setting her box down to run up to her teacher. "I'm so glad to see you're okay!"

Osaka walked up and set the box on a chair. "So the aliens didn't get ya," she said.

Yukari smiled with a sweat drop. "No, they didn't.

Yukari told them of how she had ended up there, though she skipped over Naoko, not even mentioning that the girl had been with her in the first place.

She had just started talking about her run-in with the Lyracl soldiers when the door to the lobby opened to allow Minamo to enter. Yukari sprung to her feet from the chair she had taken a seat in with ,"Nyamo!" The English teacher was excited at seeing her friend for the first time since the crisis had begun.

"I'm glad to see you're safe," Minamo said with true concern.

Yukari grinned. "Like I'd ever let some alien kill me. If I die, I'm going out with a bang!" she announced loudly.

"You will need that attitude if you plan to go against Kanyl."

Yukari spun around, startled by this sudden voice. A pale-skinned Lyracl stood against the back door to the room. Eylmey gripped his shoulder and rolled his arm as he walked to the group.

Tomo stood aside to allow him to get to Minamo. "Thank you," the prince muttered, weak due to his wounds. "May I see the medical supplies?" he asked Minamo.

"Sure," she replied, handing him the first-aid kit. Eylmey thanked her and stepped away from the group to patch his injuries.

Yukari gaped at the Lyracl. He looked back up from working on his arm. "What is so interesting?" he asked.

"You're one of _them_!" the teacher yelled!

Eylmey continues wrapping his arm. "By birth, yes. By allegiance, I am the leader of the Dryka Mirkat, a society that is against Kanyl and his forces. The girls told you about me, I believe."

Yukari glared at him before turning away. "I don't trust you."

Eylmey shrugged as he tied the wrap. "You don't have to. As long as you don't turn against us, I have no quarrel with you."

Yukari stomped out into the lobby, Yomi following. Osaka glance around. "Are they still after ya?" she asked the Lyracl.

He shook his head. "They should not bother us for some time." Eylmey stood and returned the kit to Minamo before walking out into the lobby as well.

Yukari and Yomi were engaged in conversation when he entered, cutting them off with his presence. The two glared at him as he walked to the entry doors. Outside, he looked up and down the street, looking in case someone _had_ followed him.

Satisfied that he hadn't been followed after all, Eylmey turned to return to the lobby, but the sound of a gravity-drive made him stop.

The ground around him was bathed in shadow, making it darker than it had been with just the clouds. Slowly, he looked up to see something that caused him to sprint into the building. Overhead was a Ravager-class Battleship, the planetary-devastation cruiser.

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Kar-kazan watched the Battleship slide over a Hur'Byrtel tower through his spotter. Growling, he threw the machine out the window and leaped from his hiding place inside a ruined building.

The Tigriza knew that Eylmey was within the ship's target. _'My honor be forfeit if I would let a ship kill my prey,'_ he thought angrily. Kar-kazan sprinted over piles of rubble and through small buildings on all four legs towards Eylmey's position.

He had left the Lyracl pilot back at the transport. He would obviously return to the _Syralri Kurous_, but that was of little importance to the Kyshen.

His mind was focused on reaching the Ravager's chosen in time. The hum of the ship's gravity-drive reached his ears. The knowledge of approaching the Lyracl made his hair perk up in excitement.

Kar-kazan sped across the distance in a short time, arriving outside the tower. He charged through the doors, catching the inhabitants of the room by surprise. Eylmey was instantly ready for battle, his sword at his side practically flying to his hand.

Kar-kazan squeezed the minds of the Hur'Byrtel females into a compact space, the psychic energy forcing her down. Hid lips curled back in a taunting smile.

Eylmey ducked down to help the two women into another room, never taking his eyes of the Kyshen. He stepped back out after having led them to safety, Kar-kazan laughed in the rough way of his people. "Do you have any more tricks for me, Lyracl?" he asked.

Eylmey took one step forward, eyes focused on Kar-kazan. "I do not have time for you, but you would most certainly follow us if we were to run," he replied.

The Kyshen growled, his anger taking control. "You have stained my honor as a Kyshen with your trickery! We shall fight fairly here, without technology or psychic power."

Eylmey and Kar-kazan began circling each other. Suddenly, Kar-kazan lunged at the prince with a roar, swinging one mighty claw at him. Eylmey stepped aside and spun himself to continues facing his opponent.

Kar-kazan growled as he turned around. Eylmey took his turn and charged, Kar-kazan standing ready. When he was a pin's distance away from his target, the Tigriza jumped out of the way. With a mighty push, Kar-kazan propelled himself towards Eylmey.

He tore through the air with his claws, meeting Eylmey's back. Eylmey yelled in pain as he fell against the wall.

Kar-kazan laughed as he licked his claw. "With that I have repaid my debt to you. I have no further grudge against you, but orders are orders. You still must die."

Eylmey slid to the ground as Kar-kazan began assaulting his ming with lashes of energy. He could faintly hear the Tigriza laugh as his vision faded.

_BMPH!_

Suddenly, his energy began to return. Eylmey stood back up shakily. Kar-kazan was groaning on the floor, Minamo standing behind him holding a rock.

"That's payback for what you did to Yukari," she said, dropping the rock to the side. She looked at Eylmey. "Are you alright?" she asked him.

"I am fine," he responded, retrieving Kaesyn from the floor and returning it to its sheath.

"I don't think so. That cut on your back seems pretty dangerous," Minamo observed.

"I will be fine," Eylmey pressed, walking back into the second room. Yukari and Yomi were unconscious in the middle of the floor, still yet to recover from the psychic damage Kar-kazan had caused. "We need to get out of here now," he said.

Chiyo stood from her friend's side. "What's going on?" she inquired of the Lyracl.

Eylmey looked up at the ceiling. "They found us."

Sakaki looked out the window. Her breath caught when she saw the cruiser positioned over the building, cannons aimed down at them. The heat of the charging plasma sucked the moisture out of the air.

She backed out of the window, heading for the unconscious pair. "He's right. We need to leave," she said. The tall girl helped Yomi to her feet, the effect of Kar-kazan's attack wearing off.

Tomo took the place by the window, looking up as well. "Holy crap!" she exclaimed upon seeing the Lyracl creation. She stepped away from the window and started for the door. The rest followed. They broke into a run as soon as they left the building.

They were running over a tunnel bridge when a flash of light blinded them. When it disappeared, a squad of ten Lyracl Aysla'i was revealed.

"Go! Get as far away from here as possible!" Eylmey yelled as he drew Kaesyn.

Minamo walked Yukari to Tomo, who nodded and supported her teacher. "Take care of everyone, Sakaki-san," she said to Sakaki. She turned back to stand by Eylmey.

The prince looked at her out the side of his eyes and said, "If you want to fight, I cannot stop you, but do not get yourself killed here." He drew a knife from inside his cloak and offered it to her.

Minamo shook her head and focused on the soldiers, who had finally noticed them. They could hear the others fleeing the area.

"We need to make this quick," Eylmey said.

"Alright," Minamo responded. She charged at the Aysla'i, yelling with Eylmey at her side. Ducking under a shock-halberd, she punched the wielder in the gut, her knee following close behind. The Aysla flew back a short distance, and Minamo turned with a kick to the side of another's head.

Eylmey parried a sword and elbowed the Aysla in the face. He finished by thrusting Kaesyn through the heart of the Imperial. Another took the place of his fallen comrade. He swung his sword at Eylmey, who failed to defend himself.

The prince hissed with pain as the sword cut open his side. He was saved from the finishing strike by Minamo, who punched the Aysla in the side of the head. She helped him to his feet.

"You'll need to patch that up," she said, turning back to the other six targets.

Eylmey nodded, sheathing Kaesyn. _'Un'shorro would serve me better here,'_ he thought. The pair charged again. Eylmey twisted around the shock-halberd of an Aysla, grabbed the back of his head, and dropped to one knee, bringing the soldier with him.

The head and knee met loudly, knocking the soldier out. Letting the body fall to the side, he stood and turned to meet his final foe, who he dispatched with a hard strike to his solar plexus.

Minamo ran up to Eylmey. "Let's go!" she exclaimed, turning to start off after the girls. Eylmey followed, panting heavily.

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A long distance away, A Lyracl followed the two through a scope. "There you are, princey," he whispered.

"Seyrn, what's the holdup?!" yelled a Lyracl woman from behind him.

"Nothing, Nyrale," Seyrn responded.

"Just take the shot, boy," said a huge Lyracl man named Kysth.

"Alright, alright! I'll get 'em." Seyrn took aim once more. His finger pressed the trigger when the Ravager used its relocater again. The light through the scope blinded the young Lyracl temporarily, and when the light faded, Eylmey and his Hur'Byrtel companion were gone, a squad of Lyracl soldiers having taken their place.

"Damn," the sniper mumbled as he shouldered his rifle.

"What happened?" asked Nyrale.

"The ship relocated them onto it," he replied.

Kysth stood and cracked his knuckled. "Then we follow."

Nyrale pressed a button on her com-link. "Does he really have to come with us?" she asked, pointing to the restricted Tigriza laying in between them.

"Yes, he must," said Kysth, looking at Kar-kazan with disgust.

Seyrn nodded. "You know the punishment when you desert Kanyl. You better than anyone, Nyrale."

The woman blushed as the light engulfed them.

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The girls were running out of energy to continue. "We need to stop soon!" Chiyo yelled in between breaths. The others agreed, and they stopped running.

Yomi had recovered from Kar-kazan's attack, though Yukari hadn't. "We need to get out of here!" she yelled.

Sakaki shook her head. "We need to wait for Kurosawa-sensei and Eylmey-san."

Yomi suddenly flared up in anger. "Why should we wait for Eylmey?! He's one of them!" she yelled.

Sakaki was unaffected. "Then wait for Kurosawa-sensei." Yomi backed down to the taller girl.

Suddenly, the ground heaved, throwing the girls around. Osaka rubbed her head from where she had hit a wall. "What was that?" she asked.

No one could answer as a thick cloud of dust, debris, and rubble blew at a high speed at them. They were all blown away from the irresistible force the cloud pushed with, separating them. When the dust began to clear, Sakaki sat up with her leg throbbing.

Around her were laying Yomi, Tomo and Osaka. "Is everyone alright?" Sakaki asked, pushing her self up to stand.

Tomo pushed herself up and coughed. "I think I'm okay," she said, coughing again afterwards. _'Note to self: never breathe when inside a cloud of dust,'_ she thought, coughing up some dirt which had lodged itself in her throat.

Yomi stood on shaky legs and said, "Yeah."

Osaka stuck her arm in the air in a thumbs-up. Sakaki walked over to the spacey girl and helped her out of the pile of rubble she laying. She was rewarded with a hacking cough. "Sorry," Osaka offered, at which Sakaki simply nodded.

The four Humans soon recovered from the blast. Yomi looked around and asked, "Where's Chiyo-chan and Yukari-sensei?"

Tomo shrugged. "Must've been separated in the cloud."

"That's obvious, isn't it?" Yomi said, sighing. "I guess I should have known that."

The group started off, looking for the others. There wasn't much left of the area around the firing zone, so they could see well. They walked quietly for twenty minutes before Tomo stopped. The others turned back to her. "What's the problem, Tomo?" Yomi asked.

Tomo held a finger to lips to be quiets and looked around. Suddenly, everyone heard a soft humming noise that was growing louder. A large shadow began to creep across the rubble towards them.

Osaka looked up at the Lyracl cruiser as it approached them in the sky. A bright flash filled their sight, causing them all to cover heads and close their eyes.

Osaka felt herself turn into many little pieces as the light ceased to exist. To the others, the light eventually faded away. When they opened their eyes, Osaka was gone, and a dead Lyracl was in her place. A sudden pulse threw them to the ground.

Tomo rolled over and looked up at the glowing cannon. She lay down and gave up her fight.

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Translations: Ylunaylkaen – The Creator, god of the Lyracl

Mynh – Sky, name form. Common form – Ith

Nilmyna – Great woman, name form. Common form – Sur'Wass

Teyk – Rat

Vrynau – An imp blamed for annoyances among the Lyracl. Technically, Little Devil

Hur'Pyrs-Ureyli – Lesser Slayer-Guard

Ryk Hyrea – Servant

Oykane – Ceremonial robes worn by high ranking officials when they are buried in the Chamber of the Lost

Un'shorro – A style of hand-to-hand combat developed by the Synrlasti family

Seyrn – Death Bringer, name form. Common form – Jyrdna ken Sarynu (Bringer of Death)

Nyrale – Cloud, name form. Common form – Ryalk

Kysth – Earth, name form. Common form – Taryaen

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_Keshi-sama: Woah! Finished! Next begins the final chapters of CotS! Reviews are welcome! Exclamation point!_


	15. Discoveries

CHAPTER 14 Discoveries

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters, or is able to even keep them in character._

_Keshi-sama: Here we go! Out of the prologue, and into the final chapters! Enjoy!_

Osaka's vision returned slowly as she felt the world return to her. She sat up and rubbed her head. "Ooh..." she groaned as she pushed herself up from the floor. As soon as she got to her feet, however, her head swam and her vision blurred again, causing her to fall again.

After this passed, she stood back up. "Where am Ah?" she asked the air, looking around. She was in another Lyracl ship. Small circles were carved into the floor, one of which Osaka was standing on. She heard the door to the room slide open, revealing an old Lyracl man standing there.

He saw her and bowed. "Welcome to the _Salrith_, Kur'Wass. Please follow me. My lady cannot wait." The man turned and left, motioning for Osaka to follow. Seeing that she had no other alternative, she followed.

The halls and rooms that branched off were littered with evidence of a battle fought. Osaka walked up closer to the old man. "Umm, what happened here?" she asked.

The man smiled sullenly. "The Dryka Mirkat took this ship by force. We were hoping to stop it from firing on your world, but we were too late. I do apologize for the damage that was caused," he responded.

"Oh," Osaka said. They passed a pair of Lyracl wearing combat armor painted blue and silver, representing Eylmey's unique colors, carrying a dead Tigriza in between them.

Osaka walked back up to the old man's side and asked, "Where are we goin'?"

"To see the Lady Veritati and show you this ship," he answered. "Pardon me, I have not been a good host." He stopped and turned to Osaka. "I am Muryl Vesihen, but the crew of this ship calls me by the name Raen. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance," Muryl said, bowing.

"Nice to meet ya, too," Osaka replied.

Muryl continued leading Osaka through the Ravager. The girl peeked into a room that she passed. Inside she saw a Lyracl child sitting on a bed with her legs swinging back and forth. The girl noticed Osaka as well, and smiled.

She jumped off the bed and ran out into the hall to meet Osaka. "Hi! I'm Tymi, who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Osaka," Osaka told the girl.

"Hi, Osaka! What are you doing on the ship? You're a Byrtel, aren't you? Shouldn't you be on the planet with your friends? I wish I had friends to play with. The only people I ever get to talk to are serious about everything, and Rayu and Raya are always out working for the Dry-Dryka Mirkat. So, will you be my friend?"

"Of course Ah'll be your friend, Tymi," Osaka said with a smile.

"We should keep moving, Kur'Osaka. Lady Veritati will not be pleased if we are late," Muryl said, "Go back to your room, Tymi."

"Okay Muryl! Bye, Osaka!" Tymi exclaimed, waving as she walked back into her room.

Osaka and Muryl walked further until they came to a door marked with Lyracl symbols. "Just in here, Kur'Osaka," Muryl said standing to the side of the door.

Osaka walked up to the door and pressed her hand against it. She immediately withdrew when it pulsed with a calming light and slid open. Osaka walked inside, curious as to what was in this room.

Looking around, she saw a group of connected computer monitors with a single chair in front of them. Four Lyracl guards stood to either side of the chair, facing it. The light built into the ceiling lit the room up with a bluish-white color. Other computers were built into the walls of the long room, manned by Lyracl.

"Welcome to the command room, Byrtel," came a voice from the guarded chair. It spun around, revealing a Lyracl woman wearing decorated combat armor. "I am Iryarune Veritati, Second-in-Command of the Dryka Mirkat, and the commanding officer on this ship."

"I'm Osaka, umm... student of Azu-High," Osaka replied, unsure of how she should respond.

Iryarune smiled and stood up from the chair. "I have been waiting for you for some time. If we have the Ayratyn in our possession, Kanyl cannot complete the Aeysanl."

"Ayratyn? What's that?"

"The Moon Child. You, marked one."

Osaka tilted her head slightly. "Marked with what?"

Iryarune stepped closer to Osaka, the guards putting their fists over their hearts and bowing as she passed. "With the mark of Tyreyl's Moon. The thing that brings out the path to the Nur'Dyven-Hel. It should have been placed on your stomach, along with the haryus inserted into your arms and legs."

"Ah don' have anythin' burnt into mah stomach," Osaka replied.

Iryarune froze. "Nothing?"

"Nope," Osaka said, pulling her shirt up far enough to show the Lyracl woman.

Iryarune stared at Osaka's burn-free stomach. "You... are not the... Ayratyn..." she mumbled. "Have we lost?"

At this point, Muryl walked into the room. "My lady, excuse my interruption, but Lord Eylmey has arrived."

Iryarune looked at Muryl in surprise. "Let him in!" she exclaimed, stepping around Osaka.

Muryl bowed as the door slid open to allow Eylmey, followed by Minamo, to enter the room. Muryl exited the room as they walked in.

"Kurosawa-sensei!" Osaka exclaimed with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" Minamo asked, surprised at finding the space cadet.

"Ah don' really know," she replied.

Eylmey walked up to Iryarune. "What delayed you, Iryarune?" he asked.

Iryarune bowed and said, "I apologize, Lord Eylmey. The Imperials were better prepared than we suspected."

Eylmey sighed and shook his head. "No matter. Have you gotten the Ayratyn away from Kanyl?"

Iryarune shook her head. "I believed that the Byrtel here was the Ayratyn. I have failed you, my Lord."

Suddenly, the alarm started going off, causing everyone the jump. "Pyrla omaryl?!" Eylmey yelled to the crew of the command room.

"Kyas byalu Neralym Vey! Jashoi vyt mathyna raruln! Kyshen'i so r Sylrsel!" one of the crew responded.

"Kyshen'i?!" Eylmey exclaimed. He turned to Minamo and Osaka. "You need to come with me," he told them.

"What's going on?" Minamo asked.

"There are intruders on the ship. Dangerous ones," he replied. "We need to get you somewhere safe."

Minamo stepped in front of Eylmey. "I'm not going to just stand by anymore. I'm helping you."

"There isn't anything you can do against these foes. We will handle them."

"Why can't we do anything to them? What's so special about them?" Minamo asked.

"These are Kyshens and a Sylrsel. The Tigriza is a Kyshen. You should know what they are capable of. The Sylrsel is worse," the prince explained.

"I'll manage."

Eylmey stared at her for a few seconds before letting out a quiet laugh. "You may help, if you wish, but you will not die. Enough Byrten have died on my watch."

Eylmey led Minamo, Iryarune, and Osaka to the armory. Minamo chose to use no weapon. Osaka took a couple of plasma grenades "just in case". Iryarune had an EMP blaster and a pair of handguns. Eylmey took another EMP generator and a spare rifle, along with Kaesyn.

As they exited the room, a loud explosion echoed down the hall. "Hurry!" Eylmey yelled, running towards the source of the noise.

The source was the Cannon Generator room. A wounded Drykal lay against the wall by the door. He coughed as the four approached. "Lord E-Eylmey... they were too strong..." he managed to say before he slumped to the side.

Iryarune kneeled down next to him. "Lynsla Mryan," she whispered.

Eylmey opened the door to see a dozen dead Dryka Mirkat laying around the room, but no one else in sight. He motioned for the others to follow him as he crept in silently.

Suddenly, the sound of a bullet firing rang out, a small hole appearing in the wall next to Eylmey's head.

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Seyrn smiled, looking through the scope on his sniper rifle. He sat crouched on a catwalk overlooking the generators. "Boom..." he whispered. The Kyshen sniper watched his four targets scatter for cover. Seyrn pressed the communicator on his ear and said, "They're in place Kysth. Have fun."

On the generator level of the room, Kysth waited behind a generator. "Message received," he replied to Seyrn. Nyrale looked at the Sylrsel from her place behind a pile of energy batteries. Kysth motioned to her to start her objective.

The Sylrsel placed both hands on the floor and tensed his legs. Suddenly, he was gone, a small dust cloud rising in his place.

Nyrale reached out into the room with her mind, searching for the four targets. Finally, she found them, and began her part of the plan.

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Back in Tokyo, a dust devil blew across a pile of rubble. Suddenly, a hand burst through the debris, continuing to pull the body it was connected to up. Yukari's head busted through the pile, gasping for air.

The teacher coughed several times before pulling herself completely out of the pile. "Ugh... Tha-_cough_-That sucked," she said, coughing again. Yukari looked around at the ruined city. It was almost completely destroyed, the Ravager having laid what still stood to waste.

She looked around and called, "Tomo? Sakaki? Chiyo-chan? Anyone?"

"I'm here!" came a muffled voice. Chiyo burst out of a pile of dust, coughing.

"Chiyo-chan! Are you okay?" Yukari asked.

"I'll... I'll be fine..." Chiyo replied shakily. "What happened?"

"I don't know for sure, but I think that thing fired its cannon," Yukari explained, pointing at the Ravager in the distance.

"Where is everyone?"

"Somewhere out there... I hope..."

Yukari dusted off her clothes, Chiyo doing the same. They started off in search of anyone who may have survived the blast.

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Tomo lay staring up into the cannon, waiting for her inevitable death. Suddenly, she heard it power down. The light that had been growing in the far end of the cannon died away. She sat back up in curiosity. Everything was silent now.

"What the hell?" Yomi asked the air. She stood and looked up.

Sakaki stood as well, relieved at the cannon's powering down.

Tomo pushed herself up last and laughed. "Guess we aren't dead yet." She looked around before turning back to the other two. "So... how about time we fought back? I'm tired of running."

Yomi stared at her in disbelief. "How do you expect us to fight things like _that_?!" she yelled, pointing up at the Ravager. "These aliens could blow us to pieces without thinking!"

Sakaki shook her head. "They aren't that strong. I fought one of their leaders and lived."

"Aha! So they can lose!" Tomo exclaimed, excited at the fact of possible victory.

Yomi sighed. "Well, fine. But how do you propose we _get_ up there?"

Tomo went silent. "Umm... Sakaki?"

Sakaki shook her head.

"Well, we'll find a way," Tomo said, starting off into the ruined city.

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Naoko moaned as she pushed herself back to her knees. She and Ohyama had been fighting a team of Lyracl when the structure had suddenly shook.

Looking around, she saw that the Lyracl were all down, and if they were dead, she was not sure. Ohyama was gone.

Naoko stood and called his name. No response. She started limping down the hall. The bomb still had to be planted.

She passed room after room of destroyed science equipment, scattered weapons, fallen Lyracl and Hakrsat, and supplies. As she passed a room of science equipment, she stopped to look in. An relocater could be seen in the back of the room.

Naoko walked inside, her leg having healed. Suddenly, a bright light scanned through the room. A voice said, "Ilyantr. Muthye reyantr yemeyl."

"Damn," she mumbled.

"Muthye reyantr yemeyl."

Naoko looked around the room for what could be making the voice, but she didn't find anything.

"Muthye reyantr yemeyl uyn Ym pyand bantlaen kuansi lm."

"Ryaluu!" Naoko yelled in frustration. The calm voice was grating on her final nerve. She started lashing out everywhere in the room with her mind, ripping parts off the walls, knocking tables and chairs over, breaking glass. When she pulled a strip of metal off of the wall, a wire attached to its inside ripped.

"Reya... ntr... Eruli lm..." the voice cracked before it died off.

The relocater doors slid open, allowing Naoko to enter them. She stood there as the ring formed on the floor, and was calm when the world blinked away. Naoko reappeared in another relocater room. She braced herself against the wall as the relocation sickness took effect. It had been a while since she had used one.

When the sickness passed, she pushed herself off the wall and started walking into a dark hallway that branched off from the relocater room. Lights activated as she passed them. _'They were quick in putting this place together. Probably relocated the whole facility,'_ she thought.

"Welcome back, Naoko," a male Lyracl voice said from a speaker.

_'He sounds familiar...'_

"Do you not recognize my voice, 729?"

"729... the only one who called me that was..." Realization sparked in Naoko's eyes.

Ryran laughed. "It seems you remember me. It has been a while, my favorite. I was beginning to wonder if the trap would work, but here you are! Relatively unharmed... Excellent shape... You did good out there, 729."

"What do you want with me now?!" Naoko exclaimed.

Ryran smiled. "Heh... Why, to continue my research, of course. I had almost discovered the effects of the Gyrbyrten mixing with the populace of Wyrshail, making the Byrten today."

"Mixing? What?"

"Mixing. Mating. Repopulating. It seems that the old inhabitants of Wyrshail were fertile with our fellow Lyracl, and, well, people can get... desperate. The Lyracl colonists were stuck on Wyrshail after the Fall, so they began mixing with the locals. This resulted in an entirely new race, the Byrten. They developed faster, lived shorter, and had different skin pigments. I still do not know the full effects of this mix, but I do know that Kanyl does not want this knowledge to spread. If it were to get out, it would cause... quite a bit of chaos."

"What does this all have to do with me?" Naoko asked.

"Simple. I dissect you, compare you to Lyracl donors, and make notes on any differences."

"Then why the Kyshen power?"

"Out of curiosity. I had to see if the Byrtel body could accept the ability of a Kyshen. But in your case, it is different," Ryran said. "You are a Nare'Kyshen, the first of your kind. You were never a failure. That Tigriza I sent with Kanyl was one too... Kar-kazan I believe his name was."

"Kar-kazan was on Earth?!" Naoko exclaimed, surprised to hear her old friend's name.

"Yes he was. Probably still is, too. He always was a tough one, even for a Tigriza. His father passed on a lot of his endurance. Kar-hadza... I wonder if he is still alive..."

Naoko began moving, hoping to use Ryran's sudden lapse as a window to find him.

As she neared the end of the hall, Ryran snapped back into awareness.

"Where do you think you are going, 729?" he asked.

Naoko sprinted the last of the stretch, and jumped through the closing door at the end of the hall. Rolling back to her feet, she looked around. She was in an observation room. Naoko walked over to the window and looked out.

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw what was outside.

"As I said, 729, welcome back," Ryran said, before he began to laugh.

Naoko looked out over the barren landscape, the Time Decelerator visible in the distance.

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Translations: – Father, Literally Dad

Raya – Mother, Literally Mom

Tymi – Kind Girl, name form. Common form – Niru Wass

Iryarune – Winter, name form. Common form - Yasyne

Ayratyn – Moon Child

Nur'Dyven-Hel – Omni Soul Gem

Haryus – A non-lethal poison that causes the victim to feel burning. Can be weakened with common painkillers.

Pyrla omaryl – What is happening

Kyas byalu Neralym Vey – There is damage in Relocater Room Four

Jashoi vyt mathyna raruln – Intruders have boarded the ship

Kyshen'i so r Sylrsel – Shadow Warriors and a RCAU

Kyshen'i – Shadow Warriors

Lynsla Mryan – Easy/Calm/Peaceful Sleep/Rest

Ilyantr – Incorrect Identification

Muthye reyantr yemeyl – Display Correct Identification, Please

Muthye reyantr yemeyl uyn Ym pyand bantlaen kuansi lm – Display Correct Identification Please, or I Will be Forced to Harm You.

Ryaluu – Quiet!, or Shut Up!

Reya... ntr... - Correct Ident... ification

Eruli lm – Thank You

Ryran – Never Failing, name form. Common form – Haladrynt

Gyrbyrten – Past People

Wyrshail – Earth, Terra, the World, 3rd Rock from the Sun

Nare'Kyshen – Advanced Shadow Warrior

Kar-hadza – Man who Stands

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_Keshi-sama: Naoko's back on the Kyshen world! And it looks like the girls are getting ready to fight back. Took 'em long enough. Reviews are welcome, my friends!_


	16. The Naoko Focus!

CHAPTER 15 The Naoko Focus

_Keshi-sama: Let us take advantage of Naoko's current predicament to learn more about how Naoko became a Kyshen and what she did while on that world. I hereby present to you the Naoko Focus!_

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters, or is able to even keep them in character._

Naoko stood staring at the Time Decelerator in the distance. Not once had she ever thought that she might return here.

"Now that you have returned, I may continue my work, "Ryran observed through the speakers. A door behind Naoko slid open, revealing a trio of Lyracl soldiers. "Please follow my men to the Outfitting Room."

Naoko examined the Lyracl men. "Oreyd, Eryem, Varytan. So you three still work for Ryran," she said, crossing her arms. The three men ignored her and raised their rifles to aim at her.

"I'm not imitated, Ryran. You may call your guards off," Naoko said, looking at the Observer attached to the corner.

"You are going with them," Ryran commanded. The guards' fingers began to tighten on the sensors.

Naoko turned back to three. "There's not much you can do to me," she told them. The Lyracl men ignored her and kept still.

"You should teach your men better, Ryran." She whipped out with a mental lash across all three guards. All three fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Poor choice. I believe that I will have to settle for a dead specimen," Ryran sighed. Suddenly, a flaring noise began to sound throughout the facility saying, "Eykesyrl! Ame'Kyshen eykesyrl!" The door to the relocater closed and locked.

_'Damn,'_ Naoko thought. She dashed through the open door into a brightly lit corridor. She skidded to a halt as she saw who stood on the other side of the door.

"Narssi?" Naoko asked, dumbstruck.

A human-like man lifted his head to glare at the girl. "How can you _dare_ return here, after what you have done?!" he yelled angrily. He raised his hands towards her and flicked his palms up.

Tawny vines began to creep through small openings in the floor. Naoko jumped back as some of them lashed at her legs.

"Narssi, stop! What are you doing?!" she yelled in desperation.

The Amayr scowled and said, "You betrayed us! All of us!" he took one step forward before continuing, "It is my duty as a Kyshen to stop you." Narssi directed the vines toward Naoko again.

She managed to keep them back with psychic shields, but there were too many for even Naoko to handle. One wrapped around her ankle and pulled her to the ground.

The vine dragged her up the wall and had her hanging from the ceiling. Narssi walked up to her and stared into her eyes.

"What happened to you, Narssi?" Naoko asked with sadness.

Narssi responded with, "I have been shown what you are. What I _was_." His bright green eyes suddenly turned pleading. "Please reconsider what you are doing. It's not to late to come back to us."

Naoko shook her head as well as she could and replied to him, "I can't. Not after what they have done to my home."

The Amayr turned away, anger and sorrow plain on his face.

Naoko took this opening and cut Narssi's Link off with a quick tear of energy. It tore her heart to do this to her friend, but she had to. The vine suddenly loosened, dropping her to the floor.

Narssi gripped his head in terror. "Asella?! Where are you, Asella?!" he yelled before breaking into sobs and dropping to his knees.

Naoko saddened even more at seeing her friend in this state, but she couldn't help him. So she did the next best thing.

_Bumd!_ Narssi fell forward, unconscious. Naoko stepped over his fallen body and continued through the facility.

She sprinted to the end of the hallway and through the auto-door. Turning quickly, she placed her hand on the divider separating the levels of the ramp and jumped over it.

With just minimal noise, she landed on her feet at the bottom of the ramps. The two Lyracl posted as guards the both jumped in surprise, but it lasted only a moment.

The duo immediately opened fire on Naoko. One laser caught her leg before she brought both soldiers down with a mental overcharge. She was heading through the auto-door before they had even hit the ground, favoring her injured leg.

The room she entered was large and well lit with a blueish light. Naoko walked slowly through the large hall.

_'I remember this room,'_ she thought, taking in the details of the tables and pillars once more. She passed one table that caught her attention.

Naoko stopped and ran her fingers over the table's surface.

_---_

_Naoko sat at the table, nervous and frightened. She was completely unsure of what was happening around her._

_Six Lyracl... **'How do I know that?'** ... stood around her with their rifles drawn. They watched all of the other inhabitants of the room with a hawk-like gaze, wary of anyone who may be a threat to their charge._

_Naoko stared at a tiger-like humanoid that walked down the open aisle. He stared back with his feline eyes._

_The girl felt out of place with all the strange creatures around her._

_She heard talked from behind her. Suddenly, a tall man sat down directly across from her._

_"Hello," he said with a friendly smile. When Naoko didn't respond he continued, "My name's Narssi. What's yours?"_

_After a few seconds the girl responded, "Naoko."_

_Narssi reached out, causing Naoko to flinch back. He smiled and said, "It's okay." He placed his hand on Naoko's head and said, "It is very nice to meet you, Naoko."_

_Naoko sat there, unsure of how to respond before she nervously placed her hand on Narssi's head and said, "It's nice to meet you, Narssi."_

_--- _

Naoko's fingers lingered upon the table. It had been nice too meet Narssi. It saddened her that he had been turned against her.

The sound of an opening auto-door caused her to recall where she was. A full sized firing team of Lyracl soldiers rushed into the room.

Naoko pressed her back up against the nearest pillar and put all of her stealth training to use. Her breath slowed to an abnormal rate, and she seemed to _belong_ as part of the pillar. The soldiers passed on, not noticing her.

_'Recruits,'_ she thought as she started towards the door they had entered from.

The Kyshen limped through the corridor, memories of her past returning unbidden. Some fond... some not quite so.

_---_

_Naoko lay on a floating bed, terrified. The pale woman pushing the vehicle paid her whimperings and wild eyes no heed._

_Suddenly, the bed turned into a dark room. Naoko struggled to see. Lights began to activate, bathing the room in a bluish light._

_Several feet from the floor was a sheet of glass separating her from six pale skinned people. One's lips moved and another began pressing buttons on a panel. The woman who pushed Naoko into the room climbed the ramp into the observatory. Ventilation shafts opened in the top of the room._

_The top half of the table bent up, causing Naoko to sit in a reclined position. Wires appeared from the two panels on either side of her head. She struggled in fear of what was happening._

_The wires moved has if they had a mind of their own. They began pressing into her ears, pushing onward. Naoko screamed as they passed through her eardrums._

_One of the men in the observatory turned in anger towards the woman who had brought Naoko in. He yelled behind the glass, handed her an injection device, and sent her through the door._

_The woman began to sweat as soon as she entered the room. She ran to the screaming girl in the middle of the room and injected her with the liquid. Naoko suddenly slumped into an unbreakable sleep._

_The woman turned and started back to the door before suddenly being struck by a coughing fit. She looked at her hand and saw the black liquid. Looking up at the window, she said, "Relhaet..." before collapsing forward, dead from the chemicals in the air._

_Ryran smiled._

_--- _

Naoko shivered as she remembered the Initiation. That was one of the most horrible things she experienced at the hands of Ryran.

Heading through another auto-door, she emerged into a large courtyard. The Preservation Field shone and hummed overhead. Naoko pressed her back up against the wall, wary of the guards and Observers that watched the open area at all times.

She passed under a black orb and relaxed. For some reason, all of the Observers were deactivated.

As soon as she began to step into the yard, a power Kyshen shock struck her. The sheer strength sent her reeling. The presence locked itself to her.

One of the courtyard doors opened, revealing a Lyracl woman. Through the daze, Naoko recognized her.

Fear began to course through the girl. 'I'm going to die!' she thought in her panicked state.

Maeryn smiled. "So nice to see you again, Hur'Byrtel." She looked behind Naoko. "Is it not, dear brother?"

Naoko turned her head slowly. Her blood turned to ice when her fear was confirmed. Felryn nodded and approached Naoko.

When Felryn was close enough, Naoko noticed something was not the same about him. The Lyracl looked at his twin sister and asked, "Please, dear sister?"

Maeryn rubbed her forehead and replied, "It is truly what you wish, correct?" Felryn nodded. Maeryn sighed. "Mayl'Maruyn will not be satisfied with us. We are Eseyn, after all."

She smiled, "But I love you, Felryn."

Naoko felt the lock suddenly break away from her. Acting from instinct, she fled from the two, heading to the nearest door. Felryn stepped in front of her.

Naoko tried to escape, but the Lyracl was too strong. "Listen to me, Naoko," he said, trying to hold her still. Naoko calmed down after a few seconds.

Felryn continued, "You cannot get back home without this." He pressed a Hur'Dyven-hel into her palm. "This unlocks the door into the Relocater Room. Hurry, before the Observers reactivate." He stepped aside and entered a combination into the pad near the door.

It slid open, showing a ramp complex into the facility. Naoko stared at Felryn. The Lyracl gestured towards the door and repeated, "Hurry, Naoko!"

Naoko complied by walking into the corridor. The auto-door slid shut behind her. She looked back at it for a few seconds before turning to run up the stairs. _'I thought that I was the only one who could resist the control.'_

As Felryn had said, all of the Observers were deactivated. Naoko arrived at the top of the stairs and immediately had to avoid a laser. A trio of Lyracl soldiers, aided by a Tigriza, fired down the corridor towards her. Behind them, an auto-door opened to allow a smallish Render Hound into the room.

Naoko took cover behind the wall and waited for the Imperials to stop shooting. When they finally did, Naoko leaped from her hiding place and dashed towards the soldiers.

The four opened fire as soon as she was in the open, but Naoko was prepared this time. She seemed to flow around the solid energy, approaching the soldiers.

Two of the Lyracl fell within a few second, the other one after a few more. The Tigriza put up more of a fight, but not even he was a match for a Kyshen.

Naoko looked over the dead bodies to the Hound. It seemed to smile. It turned and walked back into the room it had emerged from. _'Definitely female,'_ Naoko thought. She continued onwards to the Relocater Room.

She turned a corner, jumped over the unconscious Narssi, and slowed to a jog as she entered the Relocater Room lobby. The three Lyracl still lay unconscious as well.

Naoko walked up to the door and pulled the Hur'Dyven-hel near her face so that she could see it. She lowered it into the slot on the door pad and pressed down. The door slid open, and the gem popped back out.

Naoko started to run again as soon as the hallway was clear. She saw the relocater at the end of the hall, and readied for it. When she stepped on it, she was ready for the sudden _whoosh_.

Naoko kept running as soon as she returned to Earth. She ran into the hallway and saw Ohyama walking towards her, rubbing his neck. "Ouch..." he mumbled.

Naoko ran past him, yelling, "Run!"

Ohyama looked at her back with a questioning look and then turned to look into the lab. As soon as he did, twenty-six Lyracl soldiers suddenly appeared through the relocater. Ohyama yelled in surprise and took off after Naoko.

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Translations: Oreyd – Beloved of Life, name form. Common form – Feneri ken walyra

Eryem – Artistic, name form. Common form – Ysylnr'nem

Varytan – Truth-teller, name form. Common form – Pasuma'san

Narssi – Amayr name. Amayri names have no meanings.

Asella – Mother, Nature. The Amayri can feel the plants about them, and refer to them as mother.

Relhaet – Help me, Save me, Don't let me die

Maeryn – First Sister, name form. Common form – Wassve to'rl

Felryn – First Brother, name form. Common form – Akyave to'rl

Eseyn – An elite unit of Kyshen and, only recently, Sylrsel that are all Lyracl. They are too powerful for controlling, and only have their loyalty to stop them from rebelling.

Hur'Dyven-hel – Lesser Soul Gem

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_Keshi-sama: So there was a little look back into Naoko's past! Reviews are welcome!_


	17. Retaliation

CHAPTER 16 Retaliation

_Disclaimer: Keshi-sama does not own Azumanga or any characters, or is able to even keep them in character._

Minamo ducked behind a crate when the shot rang out. She waited for half a minute, still in the silence. Suddenly, a large Lyracl man appeared in the air, his leg pulled back for a kick. "Die, Hur'Byrtel!" he yelled, letting his leg fly with all of its power.

Minamo ducked, the leg whooshing over her head. She followed up with a battle cry and lunged forward. Her fist should have connected with the man's torso, but he was gone, just as suddenly as he had appeared.

"Wha-" Minamo's words were cut off when the world turned red. She fell backwards, feeling as though the world was going in slow motion.

Hands slid underneath her, but whoever they belonged to couldn't stop her from falling.

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Osaka pulled her arms out from under her fallen teacher. "Umm... we got a problem here!" she yelled out, but there was no answer. She turned around in time to see Eylmey flying towards her before he collided with her.

"Oww...." she moaned.

Eylmey pushed himself off of her, rolling to the floor. His back was bleeding freely from the wound Kar-kazan had inflicted.

Osaka stood and looked to see a large man running towards her. She put her arms up to defend herself as the man jumped at her.

She closed her eyes and waited for the hit, but it never came. Osaka opened her eyes in curiosity. Iryarune stood in front of her, her sword drawn to block the man's fist.

The man laughed and disappeared. Iryarune looked around before turning to Osaka. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Osaka nodded. "Ah'm fine."

Iryarune nodded in reply and kneeled down next to Eylmey, who had passed out. She inspected his bleeding wound before pulling a pouch from her belt. The Lyracl woman turned Eylmey's head enough so that his face was exposed. She reached into the small pouch and pulled out a pill.

She tilted Eylmey's head and opened his mouth, dropping the pill in afterwards. Closing his mouth, she began to rub his throat so that he would swallow it. After she was content that he had, she laid him back down.

Next was Minamo. Iryarune checked her every way she knew, but there wasn't anything to give what might have happened. "I think the Kyshen are taking the fight into our minds," she told Osaka. "Be prepared to protect yourself from mental attacks as well as physical."

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All was quiet in the former city of Tokyo. Only the wind disturbed the dust and rubble covering the ground.

In the distance, a metallic structure stuck out like a sore thumb. Suddenly, the doors busted open. Ohyama and Naoko both sprinted out of the building, chased by Plas-lasers.

"Why the hell?!" Ohyama yelled, unconsciously dodging the energy projectiles. "Why me?!"

"Just shut the hell up and keep running!" Naoko commanded.

The Lyracl continued firing at the retreating pair as Felryn and Maeryn walked in between them.

"We will have to face Mayl'Maruyn when we return, dear brother," Maeryn stated.

"It matters not, dear sister. I will not be the one to harm Naoko," Felryn said. He raised his hand and yelled, "Ityer!" At the sound of his command, the soldiers reluctantly ended their firing.

Maeryn sighed and looked at her twin. "You still love her," she stated.

Felryn didn't reply as he watched the speeding forms of the two Humans. _'Fly fast... Naoko.'_

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Iyrael sighed in relief as he slid the helmet over his silver hair. _'Comfortable...'_ he thought, enjoying the fact that he was in his armor once more. He turned to look at the girl, who was busy examining everything in the room.

"What's this? What's this? What's this?" she asked repetitively.

"Nothing," Iyrael said. He turned away from the girl and reached into his storage pouch. When he pulled his hand back out, he held a diamond-like gem.

"Ooo... what's that?" the girl asked, curious.

"Nothing," Iyrael responded again. He looked at the small black spot resting in the center of the Dyven-Hel. It was obviously not a soul, but as to what it was, Iyrael was clueless. He spun it around in his hands to see it from all directions.

He saw all of the symbols that are supposed to be present on a Dyven-Hel. Iyrael slid the gem back into his pouch and turned to the girl. "Ready to leave?" he asked her.

The girl turned from the arsenal of Lyracl weapons displayed. "Yep!"

Iyrael led her out of the armory and down the corridor. Now that he wasn't thinking about his armor, Iyrael found it strange that there were no patrols in the hall. He looked over his shoulder to make sure that the girl hadn't wandered off.

He stopped and turned when he saw the lack of a girl. _'Impossible!'_ he thought as he started back the way he came. Looking into every room as he passed, Iyrael started his search.

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Kagura followed behind Jaryl. The alien hadn't spoken since the explosion. He had just began hurrying off towards its source. Kagura looked from side to side. It seemed that the city had been abandoned by the rest of the aliens, too.

Kagura closed her eyes and sighed, but kept walking. She yelped when she ran into Jaryl, who had stopped. He looked back at her and half-smirked before pressing behind his ear.

"Talya, Rylan, can ya two hear me?" he asked no one in particular.

After a few seconds he continued, "I've got the woulda-beens. What am I supposed ta do with 'em?"

Another wait. "A'right. Meetcha there." Jaryl pulled his hand away from his ear and turned to Kagura. "How ya feelin' up to a short detour?"

"Where are we going?" Kagura asked, scratching her shoulder.

"Ta see some o' my friends," the alien replied. He looked over Kagura to the rest of the troupe. "Whaddaya think 'bout it?"

Most of the group agreed to idea, and Jaryl nodded. He turned in a new direction and said, "Then we're goin' this way." The soldier led the Humans into the ruins of Tokyo, heading for the two people he had been talking to.

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Kanyl stormed through the halls of the _Herin Sylanti_. He had just recently gotten the report that the _Salrith_ had been captured by the Dryka Mirkat. Normally, Kanyl was more controlled with his emotions, but the recent events had made him become angry.

He passed a pair of Tigriza, both of which bowed as he passed. _'Why do I keep those savages around?'_ he thought in disgust. The Tigriza were relatively undeveloped in technology, and were only part of the Empire for their combat prowess.

Turning a corner, Kanyl walked into an opening auto-door. The people inside turned in their seats to look at him. With some surprise, they all got out of their chairs, bowed, and said, "Welcome, Lord Kanyl."

Kanyl ignored them and walked towards the woman bowed in the end of the room. He stepped in front of her her and asked, "Ovesa?"

The woman nodded and looked up. "Yes, my Lord?" she asked.

"It was you who was in command of the _Salrith_, correct?"

Ovesa bowed her head and replied, "Yes, my Lord."

Kanyl started to walk around her. "How by Ylunaylkaen could you have lost that Ravager? Without it, our ability to rid this world of the Byrten is lost."

Ovesa bowed her head deeper. "I apologize, my Lord. It will not reoccur."

Kanyl stopped behind her. "No, it shall not." He drew his sword and stabbed it through the woman's back.

She arched her back and let out a scream as the blade pierced her. After a few seconds she slumped forward, dead.

Kanyl withdrew the sword and wiped it off with a cloth. "Dispose of this," he commanded, gesturing towards the corpse.

A pair of shaky crew members bowed and picked up Ovesa's body. Kanyl looked to the remaining crew. "If any of you _ever_ fail me as she did, you will share her fate. Is that clear?"

The crew bowed and replied, "It is, Lord Kanyl."

Kanyl walked past the crew members and into the hallway. That woman had betrayed him. If she couldn't protect a single Ravager, there was no use for her.

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Tomo watched a pair of Lyracl from behind a pile rubble. She was lucky enough for them to not have seen her yet, or else she would probably be dead.

She looked to her left where Sakaki was lying in wait for Tomo to give the signal. Across from Tomo was Yomi, who they had reluctantly gotten to help with this ambush.

The pair of Lyracl walked in between the walls of the former school, talking in their language while being oblivious to what was about to happen.

Tomo waited until the two aliens were right in between her and Yomi before yelling, "Go!" The Lyracl were taken by surprise at the three girls suddenly descending upon them.

Both soldiers were unconscious within a few seconds, despite their expertise. Tomo reached down and "liberated" a rifle and handgun from one of the soldiers. Sakaki did the same to the other.

Sakaki looked around the room, searching for something.

Tomo looked at her quizzically. "What're you looking for?" she asked.

"Something to bind them," Sakaki replied, not looking back. She made a sound of recognition when she found a coil of chain.

She handed an end of it to Yomi and said, "Help me with this."

The two girls together tied up the soldiers. When they were done, the Humans left, leaving behind two unequipped, unconscious, incapacitated Lyracl soldiers.

Tomo walked up next to Yomi as they left and said, "See? That wasn't so hard, right?" while poking her in the side.

Yomi smacked her finger away and replied, "Do you have any idea how risky that was? We could have been killed!"

Tomo shrugged and smiled. "But we weren't," the wildcat said. "In fact, I think that went pretty well."

Yomi huffed and looked away. Why couldn't Tomo see that they couldn't win? The least they could have done was kill those soldiers back in the ruins.

Sakaki watched her friends with concern. Now wasn't the time to be fighting amongst themselves. All they had to worry about was finding their other friends and getting the Lyracl to leave.

The group walked in silence for about a half an hour when Tomo suddenly pointed and shouted, "Up ahead!"

Sakaki and Yomi both followed Tomo's outstretched finger to a relatively intact building in the distance.

It looked to be some sort of Cafe. The girls walked up to it and Yomi said, "It's amazing that this place survived."

Tomo raised her leg and pulled it back for a kick. Yomi saw this and quickly jumped in front of her. Tomo stopped and yelled, "Get outta the way! I'm gonna kick the door in!"

Yomi shook her head and replied, "We don't know what could be waiting inside, so we need to do this carefully." She reached out and took the Lyracl rifle from Tomo.

"Hey! Gimme that!" Tomo yelled, trying to reclaim the stolen gun. Yomi pushed her back by her head.

"Come on, Tomo. Let me do this," she pleaded. Tomo stepped back, taken by surprise by her friend's sudden change in attitude.

"A-alright..." Tomo agreed. Yomi turned and slowly opened the door and pointed inside with a rifle. She scanned the room and pulled back upon seeing something move.

"There's something in there," she whispered.

Tomo peeked in and saw the movement too. "I wonder what it is," she whispered as well.

The movement stopped as if it heard her. Yomi covered Tomo's mouth and whispered angrily, "We have no idea what that is! Are you _trying_ to get us killed?!"

At that moment, a voice called, "Hello?"

Sakaki looked into the building. "Hello," she replied.

"Ah! It's you!" the voice called. Sakaki stepped back, allowing the person to exit.

Out from the door came two people they had though were dead.

"Hi, Sakaki-san!" greeted Chiyo.

"Hey! Looks like you all made it after all," Yukari said, shouldering her lead pipe.

Tomo grinned and turned to Yomi. "See? Not everybody's dead." Yomi scratched her head and turned away.

"So, how've you guys been?" Yukari asked the three.

"We've been alright, I guess. Took down a few aliens a little back that way," Tomo said, pointing in the direction they had come. "How about you?"

"We've been looking all over for you!" Chiyo exclaimed, happy to see her friends again.

The girls stood there for a while after Chiyo said that. There was silence until Sakaki asked, "What do we do now?"

Tomo stuck her finger to her lips and said, "Umm... how about we... find a way onto the alien's ship and take it out?"

Yomi was immediately upon her with, "We wander around, cause trouble, yes, I'll do that, but an attack on their _ship_?! Do you have any idea what would happen to us the way we are?!"

"What else can we do? There's not much around here to cause trouble with."

"We can do something! As long as it doesn't get us killed, I'm fine with it," Yomi said, crossing her arms.

"If we stay down here, we'll pr-" Tomo was cut off as a laser discharge sounded off across the ruins.

Time stood still. A scream echoed.

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Translations: Ityer – Cease fire

Ovesa – Faithful woman, name form. Common form – Wass vyan'ti

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_Keshi-sama: First off, I must apologize to those who have read and reviewed since the beginning. I really shouldn't have combined the Kaorin Focus. Alright then!_

_On the minor freak-out news, Kagura has spoken! If you don't believe me, look for yourself! Wow, Kanyl really is heartless. Alaka-gasp! Cliff hanger! Reviews are welcome!_


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